TIPS ARCHIVE

October 11

• Some basionym links are incorrect. A bug has caused this to happen when the basionym has a homonym. We are working on correcting, but if you notice an incorrect link, please let us know.

• Use of wildcards when searching the Authors Database is strongly advised, especially if including a forename initial in the search. If your search is unsuccessful, try adding a wildcard to both ends of the surname.

• Names at infra-rank published before 1971 weren't recorded in IK. There's no need to report these to us unless there are nomenclatural implications, e.g. the name causes an isonym or later homonym not recorded as such in IPNI. We will be pleased to hear about missing names at all ranks that were published from 1971 onwards. Please contact the editors.

June 11

• Try out our handy prototype bibliographic tool. Just a few clicks will take you from a detailed IPNI plant name record to the protologue page in BHL.
  Give it a try and let us know how you get on. We can help you get going if necessary. Details here.

• See the errors table for a selection of the sorts of corrections being made.

• The IPNI database is live. Additions and edits to the data become visible as soon as the editors submit them.

April 11

• You will come across names in IPNI that don't comply with the current Code with respect to spelling or nomenclatural status. Compilation of the Index began in the late 1800s well before there was a Code or standards to follow. We are working on bringing the data into line. Find out how compilation practices have changed over the years.

• Keep track of record modifications in a particular family or genus by using Additional Term search . Search must be limited by at least one term. Find out more .

• We now display the current number of records in each of the three IPNI databases. On the same page you can see how many names are being added to IPNI and statistics on data curation.

March 11

• Changes to the IPNI database may not be reflected in other sites that have used downloaded data.

• Check the metadata, e.g. example of a name published, in the authors database to help select the correct one.

• When an authorship or publication title is hyperlinked it is in standard form.

December 10

• See new names just added by searching by additional terms . Search must be limited by at least one term, like family, genus or author.

• You can sort your search results by family or by genus. The default is by family, but if you uncheck the Sort box just to the left of the Search button, your results will be sorted by genus.

• When searching the authors database use a wildcard after the first letter of the forename if you are using that field in your search. Find out why.

September-November 10

• To download IPNI data (up to 5000 records) run your search as normal but select one of the delimited formats that best suits your needs. Save the output in a text file, then import into a spreasheet or database.

• In IK Roman numerals were used to record volume numbers for names published from 1753-1965. We are converting these numerals gradually, but carefully, as not only do they contain scanning errors (like 'i' being read as 'l', so 'lv' could be 55 or a scanning error for 4, for instance), but also typographical errors (e.g. 'ix' may have been recorded for '11' and 'xi' for '9'). See errors table for examples found and now corrected. Please let us know if you come across more.

• Wondering if there might have been new names added since last year, last month, last week or yesterday? You can do this by searching by additional terms . Search must be limited by at least one term, like family, genus, author. Find out more .

August 10

• Check the links page for sources of digitised literature.

• Detailed view of publication title may hold useful information. For example, pdfs of articles published in Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society can be accessed by pasting the link given in the publication record into your browser.

• Our statistics tables are automatically updated whenever we update the static webpages - usually around the beginning of each month.

June-July 10

• IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or taxonomic synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.] 

• To see new names added since last year, last month, last week or yesterday use search by additional terms. Search must be limited by at least one term, like family. Find out more.

• A hyperlink on author name or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format. 

April-May 10

• To find the full title of a title abbreviation, enter it into the Publication Abbreviation box in the Publications Query page. Replace all punctuation with a wildcard (*) then click search.

• Very many infraspecific names published before 1971 are missing from IPNI as the information wasn't recorded in IK.

• You can highlight recent additions to the errors table if you use Firefox, by going to the Edit menu, selecting "Find" then adding your criterion, e.g. '2010-03', to the toolbar that appears near the botton of the screen.

March 10

• You can track the changes a record has undergone by clicking on the 'View Record history' link in detail view and comparing the previous versions.

• If your name is already in the Authors Database please check to see if you can supply us with any additional information about yourself, like date of birth or full name where we only have your initials. This may help to prevent you from being confused with someone else in the future!

• Keep track of record updates and/or additions in a particular family or genus by using Additional Term search. Search by date and at least one other term. Find out more.

February 10

• IMPORTANT: IPNI does not have information on what are currently accepted names and what are taxonomic (i.e. heterotypic) synonyms. Find this information in floras, monographs, checklists, revisions etc. IPNI has no opinion on such matters!

• To download IPNI data (up to 5000 records) run your search as normal but select one of the delimited formats that best suits your needs. Save the output in a text file, then import into a spreasheet or database.

• Remember that if you use downloaded data it will probably become out of date very quickly. Refresh it regularly - you may find you avoid having to duplicate work that we've just done!

November-December 09

• You can sort your search results by family or by genus. The default is by family, but if you uncheck the Sort box just to the left of the Search button, your results will be sorted by genus.

• Keep track of record modifications in a particular family or genus by using Additional Term search. Search must be limited by at least one term. Find out more.

• If you are running a search for a particular genus it is not necessary to enter anything in the family name field.

October 09

• Some publications, like Bull. Soc. Bot. France may comprise one section with Indo-Arabic page numbers and another with Roman numeral page numbers, within the same volume.

• Scanning errors in specific epithets are still turning up. A few examples of recently corrected ones: usambarcnsis to usambarensis, djamucnse to djamuense, ripcnse to ripense, lumrum to lurorum, samthrae to sarothrae. Please let us know if you come across one.

• Keep track of record modifications in a particular family or genus by using Additional Term search. Search must be limited by at least one term. Find out more.

September 09

• In IK Roman numerals were used to record volume numbers for names published from 1753-1965. We are converting these numerals gradually, but carefully, as not only do they contain scanning errors (like 'i' being read as 'l', so 'lv' could be 55 or a scanning error for 4, for instance), but also typographical errors (e.g. 'ix' may have been recorded for '11' and 'xi' for '9'). See errors table for examples found and now corrected. Please let us know if you come across more.

• You can highlight recent additions to the errors table if you use Firefox, by going to the Edit menu, selecting "Find" then adding your criterion, e.g. '2007-08', to the toolbar that appears near the botton of the screen.

• Read more snippets of information and help in the archive.

August 09

• A hyperlink on author name or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format. 

• What appear to be duplicate records in primary search results often hold different information when the full records are viewed.

• Names appearing in IPNI that originated from the Original Volume and first three Supplements of Index Kewensis (i.e. names published from 1753-1905) sometimes included the personal taxonomic opinion of the index compiler, so what appears in the notes field of those early records should be interpreted with this in mind. Read more about IK here.

July 09

• Publication dates are cited in the format [year1 publ. year2] when the publication year printed on the title page ('year1) is different from the actual publication date of the page in question (year2). This is common in journals that were published in parts, then bound together at a later date. 'year1' may be after or before 'year2'.

• Library catalogues usually cite the title page date only.

• Until 1970 the only ranks listed in IK were genus and species. From 1971 all ranks from family down to infraspecific level are listed.

June 09

• Remember IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or taxonomic synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.] 

• If you view IPNI data elsewhere, ensure that you are looking at the most recent version of the record.

• Quick searches allow you to paste a plant name (without authors) straight into a single box. Unlike full searches, quick searches are case-sensitive and will find matching records at the same rank as the name you put in. Try it out! Get more ideas on how to use it.

May 09

• Use an abundance of wildcards when searching the publications database, including a leading wildcard. The full title of the publication may start with something unexpected, e.g. see Phan. Cuming. Philipp.

• Some of the publication titles not yet standardised in IPNI may be a little cryptic to decipher. Ask the editors if you encounter any difficulties.

• A vast and growing amount of botanical literature is now available on-line. Try out some of the links listed here.

April 09

• If you are checking author's name against the IPNI authors database it is essential to consider the name of the author you are dealing with in context. An example: several names were recently encountered in IPNI with authorship 'R.Baker'. Now, R.Baker is a standard form, so a machine check would find an exact match and you might assume that all is well. But on delving further, [searching on Surname Baker and Forename R%] R.K.Baker, R.A.Baker, R.E.D.Baker and R.T.Baker are also presented as possibilities. So, references have to be checked to ascertain the correct author. In this example, the author had to be corrected to R.T.Baker.

• An asterisk next to a plant name record indicates that the record is awaiting verification by one of the editors. The record may be a recent addition to the database or it may be a record that has just been edited in some way. Once the editors have checked and approved the record the asterisk will disappear.

• See new names just added by searching by additional terms. Search must be limited by at least one term, like family, genus or author.

March 09

• The early compilers of Index Kewensis didn't have the benefit of being able to consult the invaluable source of information on plant taxonomic literature that is available to us today in TL-2. Consequently, it is advisable to check that the publication dates cited in some of the old records are correct. We are making corrections and adding missing dates as standardisation progresses. Some of the errors found as standardisation progresses are listed in the errors database.

• Scanning errors can result in the wrong author being displayed. For example: there were several occurences of 'Benth.' that were scanning errors for 'Bernh.' Both of these are standard forms. Please tell us if you come across other similar errors.

• Not all of the authors in plant names records are standardised yet. Those that are (83%) are hyperlinked.

February 09

• If your name is in the Authors Database please check to see if you can supply us with any additional information about yourself, like date of birth or full name where we only have your initials.

• When searching the authors database use a wildcard after the first letter of the forename if you are using that field in your search. Find out why.

• If you come across an '=' sign in the notes field of a plant name record, we advise you to ignore the associated information. The record will be from the original volume of Index Kewensis and its early supplements when the compilers often passed taxonomic judgement (which may have been their own personal view). This practice ceased for names published after 1905. Find out more about about Index Kewensis and its 21 Supplements.

January 09

• Remember IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or taxonomic synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.] 

• A hyperlink on author name or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format. 

• Clicking on the IPNI icon in the top left hand corner of every page in the website will take you back to the Home Page. 

December 08

• You can use the Boolean term 'OR' to search for records from two or more genera at once e.g. 'Poa OR Zea' finds all of the records of Poa and all of the records of Zea in one search. The usual filter options e.g. by rank, author, dataset etc. can be applied to a Boolean search.

• Use wildcards (*) in the author field if filtering your plant name search by author. Around 18% of authors have not yet been checked and linked and may not be in standard form.

• The IPNI home page is updated monthly, usually near the beginning of each month, with information and search tips to help you get the most out of the data. Check regularly to find out what is going on.

November 08

• Publication dates of the parts making up a single journal volume often span a range of years.

• Until 1970 the only ranks listed in IK were genus and species. From 1971 all ranks from family down to infraspecific level are listed.

• Want to streamline your searches? Browse the search tips page for ideas and examples.

October 08

• Want to see new names added since last year, last month, last week or yesterday? You can do this by searching by additional terms. Search must be limited by at least one term, like family, genus, author. Find out more.

• A hyperlink on author or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format.

• If you find IPNI useful, please mention it when citing sources of information. It can be cited as 'The International Plant Names Index (2008). Published on the Internet http://www.ipni.org [accessed 1 March 2008]*. *[Replace this date with the appropriate date for your use of the database]

September 08

• IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or synonyms. [See link to find a selection of sources of current names.]

• You can highlight recent additions to the errors table if you use Firefox, by going to the Edit menu, selecting "Find" then adding your criterion, e.g. '2007-08', to the toolbar that appears near the botton of the screen.

• If you have difficulty finding a name which has a compound specific epithet, e.g. Pereskia opuntiiflora, try replacing the connecting vowels with a wildcard. We are working on correcting such epithets. Find out more in ICBN (2006), Art. 60.8 and Rec. 60G.

August 08

• To find recently published names of plants found in Bolivia, for example, use the advanced search page filling in the 'Country' field and the 'Added since' field. [To date 49 new records from Bolivia have been added since 1 Jan 2008.]

• If you are interested in searching only at the rank of genus use Quick Search or, to reduce the number of clicks required, use the browser plugin. Remember that these searches are case sensitive. You could of course, select 'Generic' from the Show Ranks box under Extended Options at the bottom of the search form.

• The search results are sorted by family by default. If you would like them to be ordered by genus, deselect 'Sort by family'.

July 08

• The basis of the IPNI authors database, Authors of Plant Names, by Brummitt & Powell (1992) is endorsed by TDWG as a standard. See new page for authors containing background and information on creating standard author name forms.

• Clicking on the IPNI icon will take you back to the home page.

• If you want to find all of the names published by a particular author, uncheck the 'basionym author' box.

June 08

• When using the author's forename field in an authors database search, use only the first character followed by a wildcard.

• If pasting a name from elsewhere into the author standard form field, any spaces after full stops must be removed or replaced by wildcards.

• There is no need to include accents and other diacritic characters when entering search criteria.

May 08

• Use a wildcard at the end of publication title searches as some titles can be extremely long!

• Selecting "Full records" as the Output Format can be useful when comparing similar records.

• In records of new combinations, the author of the basionym doesn't appear in parentheses before the author of the new combination in names published in IK before 1931.

April 08

• Quick searches allow you to paste a plant name (without authors) straight into a single box. Unlike full searches, quick searches are case-sensitive and will find matching records at the same rank as the name you put in. Try it out! Get more ideas on how to use it.

• Many infraspecific names are missing from IPNI because the IK compilers didn't start recording them until 1971. There is no need for you to report these omissions, but if you come across a missing post-1970 infraspecific name, please let us know.

• If you find IPNI useful for your work, please mention it when citing sources of information. It may be cited as 'The International Plant Names Index (2008). Published on the Internet http://www.ipni.org [accessed 1 March 2008]*. *[Replace this date with the appropriate date for your use of the database]

March 08

• A hyperlink on author or publication title in the detailed search results indicates standardized format.

• Want to see new names added since last year, last month, last week or yesterday? You can do this by searching by additional terms. Search must be limited by at least one term, like family. Find out more.

• Remember IPNI's focus is purely nomenclatural. No opinions are given on what are currently accepted names or synonyms. [See link to find some sources of current names.]

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Page last updated 3 July 2012