Way back, in early 2017, when we transitioned to the new APS NSW website, we decided to make the plant profiles, mostly authored by Jeff Howes and the late Warren Sheather, accessible to the public. We figured that the information was important to share with the wider community to increase their confidence to plant native. We gave the profiles a ‘garden use’ flavour, as well as include all the botanical and other relevant information.
Both Warren and Jeff continued to create profiles over the ensuing few years and plant profiles became (and continues to be) the most visited part of the new website. They are a key reason people decide to join the society ie to get access to expert knowledge.
When COVID hit, a small group of us – Jeff, Dan Clarke and Heather Miles, with Rhonda Daniels – decided to up the ante on creating and posting these profiles. We were helped in this by Alan Fairley agreeing to share his photos of Sydney flora with us, so we had over 2.500 photos to use. At this time, we also transitioned the plant database to a new website for greater searchability and accessibility.
Explore the APS Plant Plant Profile Database HERE.
Over the last 3 years, the project has continued, with Jeff creating the drafts, based on Alan’s photos, Dan editing for botanical accuracy and additional information and Heather uploading to the website. Additional photos were added from Dan, Jeff and Heather and others. Plants are grouped by size and type e.g. shrubs under 1m and shrubs over 1m, as well as searchable by common name, botanical name and features.
From a modest 30 public profiles in 2017, to 300 profiles in 2019, we now have over 900 with 300 more in the pipeline. This has and continues to be a huge effort on everyone’s behalf with special thanks to Jeff, Dan, Heather and Rhonda. If you’d like to assist the project, please contact Dan Clarke on arcanebotanica@icloud.com
