Keeping track of plant names and synonyms is a major challenge for most gardens. That is why we’re thrilled to announce this huge milestone to help you with your scientific names. The integration with Plants of the World Online (POWO) is now extended to include species, lower ranks, and synonyms.
Shared taxonomy is not just about name validation; it's about helping all users with a unified backbone and a taxonomic opinion. This means fewer errors, speedier data entry, and better data quality across the board.
From authorship being automatically derived, to a streamlined flow for recording new taxa, this feature represents significant changes to the way you can incorporate taxonomic data.
Here’s a closer look at what this release means for you:
Ever felt anxious deleting records, accidentally losing crucial data? We get it. That's why we added audit logs to Hortis early on, ensuring every change, even deletions, is securely stored. Now, you can easily review and restore needed records from your "trash" with the new "Site Trash Pages".
To use this feature, select "Site Trash" from the menu next to your site name in the navigation bar, or “Taxa Trash” from the menu next to your organisation name. This update ensures a more secure, manageable, and user-friendly experience in handling your unwanted records.
Our new tables have all been enhanced with a number of new columns, filters and sorting options, to give you greater functionality when browsing your collection’s data.
Users now have suggestions of existing organisation donors/suppliers when creating and updating accessions. When filtering accessions, the suggestions are based on donors/suppliers from the current collection site.
Improvements
Details around the taxonomic identification can now be recorded in new accession fields. These are designed to help institutions document the certainty of plant material identification, aligning with bioinformatics standards. You can opt-in to these fields using Site Settings.
Improvements
Users are now able to download selected records on both desktop and mobile. This sets up the framework for batch actions across the platform (such as updating and deleting records). This feature is especially handy when you need to export a specific subset of records after conducting searches or applying filters.
With integration to Plants of the World Online (POWO) for vascular plants and Catalogue of Life (COL) for non-vascular plants, our community can now access shared taxonomic data seamlessly. This allows users to utilise shared factual data, reducing the burden of individual input and maintenance, whilst making taxonomic referencing more efficient.
Two new fields have been added to taxon records, allowing you to record a taxon description and natural distribution. The interpretation fields can be enabled/disabled from the Organisation settings page.
When downloading your taxa or plant material lists, the interpretation fields will be included – therefore helping you to create interpretation labels from your data.
Personalise your account by uploading your own profile picture, by navigating to the profile settings page. Admins can also upload custom logos for their organisation within the organisation Settings page.