Subject: How do I find Scientific names?

From: Chris Monser <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 13:41:46 -0800

Does anybody know how I can find out what the Scientific designation
(Genus species) for the Irish plant called "Blackthorn" or the
English "Whitethorn" (a.k.a. simply "Thorn")?
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From: Stephen J Bungard <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 17:25:26 +0000

In article <[email-masked]
tuebingen.de>, martin adler <[email-masked]>
writes
>using some of the German names I have in mind, I propose
>
>"Blackthorn"   is   Prunus spinosa and
>"Whitethorn"   is   Crataegus monogyna and/or Crataegus laevigata
>
>nobody here from the British Isles?
>
>

OK, OK.  I agree.  It is just that whitethorn is not a name usually
applied to anything here.

 :-)

-- 
Stephen J Bungard aka [email-masked]

If there are opinions in the above they are mine all mine - unless, of course,
they are yours .... or someone else'e....

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From: martin adler <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 13:41:54 +0100

martin adler          [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked](Steve Glenn)
Date: 27 Mar 1996 14:09:14 GMT

In
<[email-masked]
>martin adler          [email-masked]

You are correct sir!

according to "The Englishmans Flora"

Blackthorn is Prunus spinosa and
whitethorn is Crataegus monogyna

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From: [email-masked] (Wayne Hughes)
Date: 28 Mar 1996 11:20:18 GMT

>English "Whitethorn" (a.k.a. simply "Thorn")?

  Start with a dictionary.  My Webster's New Collegiate tells me that
  "blackthorn"  is "1. a European spiny plum (Prunus spinosa)... and
  2. any of several American hawthorns".

  It doesn't list "whitethorn" but does have under "thorn...1...any of 
  a genus (Crataegus) of the rose family."

 "Hawthorn" is "any of a genus (Crataegus)..." along with several specific
 examples.

 A lot of people are surprised that you can find such specific botanical
 information out of a dictionary, but it almost always gives me  a
 clue as to where to go for more information without having to buy
 or find some probably expensive, regionally specific botanical text 
 or manual.

 Wayne

-- 
Wayne Hughes  |              Keep your carbon dioxide fixed!!
Botany Dept   |            http://morgan.botany.uga.edu/wayne.htm
Univ Georgia  | Keywords: botany, Arabidopsis, gay stuff, astronomy, ponds,  
Athens,GA USA | bonsai, cats, dormancy, rural, seeds, juggling, books, movies.

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From: Brian Fristensky <frist>
Date: 29 Mar 1996 20:49:47 GMT

>English "Whitethorn" (a.k.a. simply "Thorn")?

One thing to try is the NCBI Taxonomy browser at

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Just press the button marked "Taxonomy"

In this case, a search for 'blackthorn' turned out nil, but
thorn turned up three hits, one was a scorpion, and the other
two were lily thorn Catesbaea spinosa) and hawthorne (Crataegus spp.). 
I don't know whether either of these might be what you're looking for.

I don't know offhand whether or not the NCBI Taxonomy browser
is limited only to species for which at least one sequence
appears in GenBank. On the otherhand, there are sequences
now from some pretty surprising sources.

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From: [email-masked](Michael L Roginsky )
Date: 30 Mar 1996 21:53:24 GMT

>English "Whitethorn" (a.k.a. simply "Thorn")?
Yes Chris...my cyberbuddy professor emeritus, botany. His web page is:
http://144.174.177.33/~Julius.html

Visit his page. He is a super guy........Micro, not a microbe!