This is a general help page on querying the name, descriptive and specimen data available in FloraBase. This page covers the protocols of querying followed by a list and explanation of each query field.
In the top right-hand corner of each page on FloraBase is a small query box for simple access to our information based on any of family, genus, species, infraspecies, authors or common names. You don’t need to know what part of the name you might be querying on, just type it in and hit return or click on the ‘go’ button. For more specific searches where you can specify your query exactly, use Advanced Search. The search criteria are described below.
Querying our databases through FloraBase takes two forms: that of selecting from drop down boxes e.g. in the Flowering Time box or the Conservation Status box, and that of a textual query where the word or words specifically sought are typed into the text query box such as the Soil Type field.
Make your query choice from the available selection.
Any single word in a long text field, e.g. the Soil Type field, can be a query term without pattern matching being required, e.g. typing red in this field would retrieve records containing red clay, or red sand.
Entering more than one word, e.g. red loam will retrieve all records containing these terms; e.g. shallow loam over red clay
To query for a specific string of more than one word, use quotation marks, e.g. typing "red loam" to retrieve all records containing the contiguous terms red loam over laterite.
These are allowed eg, to query for all taxa growing around granite outcrops, type granite in the Soil Type field and select outcrops from habitat drop down box.
The text is case insensitive, e.g. typing proteaceae or PrOtEaCeAe in the Family field will both return any records with Proteaceae in the Family field of our database.
Parentheses are not able to be used in formulating queries and should be ignored when formulating search criteria.
To find a contiguous string of words for which you want, enter the words with spaces. For example, enter red loam to retrieve all records containing the contiguous terms; e.g. red loam over laterite and red loamy sand, but not shallow loam over red clay or red sandy loam
To find all species with the root march, enter march* in the Species field. This will retrieve species names including marchantii and marchantiorum.
If you are unsure of the correct spelling for a textual query, e.g. laterite or lateritic, in the Soil Type field, enter the root followed by an asterisk, e.g. laterit* This will retrieve records for all the taxa with the words laterite or lateritic.
To match a word by the text at its end use the asterisk at the beginning of the value, e.g. to find all taxa published in 1811 enter *1811 in the Reference field.
If a query returns no matches, try to broaden your search criteria, or use different criteria that might achieve the same end result.
The following GIS layers are provided in FloraBase, and up to 5 can be queried at once using the drop-down boxes provided.
Choose the name of a layer from the first drop-down box, and then one of the features it contains from the second drop-down box.
In the third drop-down box, choose either “All” or “Any”. Choosing “All” will return taxa known to occur in all of the regions you provided, while choosing “Any” will return taxa known to occur in at least one of the regions you provided.
Our Mapping Primer provides more information about the maps displayed in FloraBase.
FloraBase is produced by the staff of the Western Australian Herbarium, Science and Conservation, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Publication or other use of content on this site is unauthorised unless that use conforms with the copyright statement.