Gymnosperm Database: Links

Essential Links

These are links that provide significant additional information on many of the species addressed in the Gymnosperm Database. Because they are so comprehensive, it is not practical for me to add them to each page of each species concerned.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is probably the world's greatest repository of old botanical literature. The original publications of most conifer species can be found here.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) provides a variety of very useful tools, including (1) a global tree database that will tell you the distribution of any tree, or a list of all the trees in a country; (2) a climate change tool that tells you whether a tree will survive at a given site under a given climate change scenario; and (3) overview conservation assessments for all trees.

The China Natural Herbarium is an invaluable resource for any species native to China. It provides descriptive information, range maps, an extensive library of photos, and much further information. What's more, it's all closed to search engines such as Google, so you will not otherwise see this information.

Conifers of the World provides an online portal to the complete BRAHMS database used by Aljos Farjon to assemble his World Checklist and Bibliography of Conifers and the Handbook of the World's Conifers. Contains over 30,000 database records.

GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, is a database with species distribution information. iNaturalist records, among others, are kept here. This is a useful resource for developing species distribution maps, but it has to be used carefully; a significant fraction of specimens seem to be misidentified or or to be horticultural specimens not identified as such.

The Glossary of Botanical Terms on Wikipedia is reasonably complete. Also, most specialized terms, such as distichous or mucronate, can be found at The Free Dictionary.

Google Scholar is the first place I look to find a PDF of a recent academic publication. Researchgate is the second.

Google Translate provides automated translations. You can enter text or a URL. This site will be useful for anyone pursuing links on non-English pages, and may also be helpful to non-English speakers using the Gymnosperm Database.

iNaturalist is usually the first place I look for good-quality photos of conifers. These can be extremely useful in attempting to identify a species you haven't seen before.

Index Herbariorum is an index to over 3,100 herbaria around the world, providing contact information and herbarium codes.

Individual Tree Species Parameter Maps is useful for trees native to the 48 US states, allowing mapping of specific parameters in their distribution, such as basal area or tree density. Note that these maps tend to underestimate distribution outside of federal lands.

Inside Wood is an essential resource for identifying a species by its wood. Includes both fossil and extant taxa (not just gymnosperms) with detailed information on anatomy and a large library of high-resolution photographs of woods in section.

The Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database gives plant names in many different languages, using the correct script (e.g. Cyrillic, Kanji) as well as a Roman transliteration.

The Native American Ethnobotany Database describes foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of native American peoples, derived from plants.

Threatened Conifers of the World, sponsored by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, provides conservation information, case studies, and new items regarding the world's 211 threatened or endangered conifer species.

World Agroforestry is a great resource for finding information on species, particularly tropical and subtropical species, used in agroforestry.

Databases

Africa Cycads provides good photos, distribution maps and descriptions for nearly all African cycads, i.e. Encephalartos and Stangeria.

The Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America is an online version of USGS Professional Paper 1650-G, providing range and climatic requirements of most species of North American conifers. See also Little's Atlas, which has both distribution maps and downloadable ArcView shapefiles.

The Australia Virtual Herbarium (AVH) is an excellent database holding records from most Australian herbaria.

The Bibliography of Dendrochronology is a searchable database that includes virtually everything ever published up to 2012 on the subject of dendrochronology. Unfortunately the bibliography is no longer maintained and searches of the more recent literature can be quite challenging.

The Conifer Treasury is a comprehensive listing of conifer cultivar names and many incidentals of conifer culture assembled by Zsolt Mesterházy.

Dendrobox is a map-based engine to find and display tree-ring data archived by the International Tree-Ring Data Bank. Searchable by species, location, and investigator. This is one of the tools I use to find very old trees.

The Russian Conifer Society addresses systematics, distribution, cultivation, ornamental use, and lore for all conifers native to Russia, and many other species besides. Moreover, the society's perspective is often highly distinctive in comparison to typical European and American discussions.

Dictionary of Botanical Epithets. What's in a name?

The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) is a suite of species-specific reviews of North American plants, including conifers, providing information on distribution, fire effects, value, ecological characteristics, and references for each species treated.

The Flora of China is the online version of the 1999 book.

The Flora of North America includes the online version of the Gymnosperm volume of the book.

The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) is another good source of taxonomic information (authors, synonyms, common names, etc.) for most plant species of the world, and is particularly handy for the obscure species.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System is a standard reference for most species native to or ornamental within North America.

NCBI Taxonomy provides links to information on genetic research (all organisms) with resources for most conifers.

NRCS Plant Guides and Fact Sheets describe many plant species, conifers among them, native to North America; provides considerable information useful in horticulture.

PlantIllustrations.org provides a database of plant illustrations. Has some great images scanned from old conifer books.

The PLANTS Database is a single source of standardized information about plants of the United States. It includes names, checklists, automated tools, identification information, species abstracts, distributional data, crop information, plant symbols, plant growth data, plant materials information, plant links, references, and other plant information.

Plants of the World Online provides the taxonomic framework for Kingdom Plantae, according to Kew.

Reforestation, Nurseries and Genetic Resources is especially useful for the specialist publications in topics that seeds, nursery techniques, diagnosis and treatment of pests and diseases, reforestation, etc.

The Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia is a good reference for information on most cycad species, but it appears not to have been maintained since 2001, thus is missing a lot of changes in taxonomy and improved scientific knowledge.

The World Flora Online provides some useful information on every plant species in the world, and constitutes a useful general taxonomic reference for plants.

Big, Tall, and Old Trees

Earth: Monumental Trees lists many trees, including extremely large, tall, and old trees. Many photos. Particularly useful for European trees, but includes specimens from many countries around the world. Text is mirrored in Castellano, Deutsch, Français, and Nederlands.

Earth: OLDLIST is a listing of the oldest trees, by species. Data include age, dating method, specimen ID and location, and collector name. OLDLIST has a strong U.S. bias but includes specimens from countries around the world.

Australia: National Register of Big Trees lists Australia's largest trees. Most have photos; many have map coordinates.

Canada, British Columbia: British Columbia Big Trees Registry lists the largest trees in British Columbia.

Japan: Ministry of the Environment Giant Tree Database provides "big tree" lists and also some novel features, such as recommended tours of Japan's most noteworthy big tree areas.

New Zealand: Notable Trees of New Zealand is focused on big and tall trees, and also heritage trees. Most have photos and map coordinates, as well as supplemental information.

United States: National Champion Tree Program is the new (2024) expression of a register that's been tracking the biggest trees in the USA since 1940.

United States: Native Tree Society (NTS) is a group of tree-lovers in North America who celebrate and discuss many different aspects of trees, but the search for large and tall trees is one of their pasttimes. Many record trees have first been introduced to the public though their Forum.

United States, Alabama: Champion Tree Program.

United States, Alaska: akbigtreelist.org maintained a listing until mid-2022, but the site is now defunct.

United States, Arizona: Arizona's Magnificent Trees (PDF, 2019).

United States, Arkansas: Arkansas Champion Tree Program.

United States, California: California Big Tree Registry.

United States, Colorado: Colorado Champion Tree Program.

United States, Connecticut: Notable Trees Project.

United States, Delaware: Big Trees of Delaware (PDF, 2019).

United States, Florida: Florida Champion Tree Register.

United States, Georgia: Champion Tree Program.

United States, Hawaii: Hawai'i State Big Tree Program.

United States, Idaho: Idaho Registry of Champion Big Trees.

United States, Illinois: Illinois Big Tree Champions.

United States, Indiana: Indiana Big Tree Register.

United States, Iowa: Big Trees of Iowa - Official Spreadsheet (PDF).

United States, Kansas: Champion Trees of Kansas.

United States, Kentucky: Kentucky's Champion Trees.

United States, Louisiana: Champion Louisiana Trees.

United States, Maine: Maine Register of Big Trees.

United States, Maryland: Maryland Big Tree Program.

United States, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Legacy Tree Program.

United States, Michigan: Michigan Big Tree Program.

United States, Minnesota: Minnesota Native Big Tree Registry.

United States, Mississippi: the Mississippi Forestry Commission claims to maintain a champion trees registry, but it is not available online.

United States, Missouri: Champion Trees.

United States, Montana: Register of Big Trees.

United States, Nebraska: Nebraska Champion Tree Register.

United States, Nevada: Nevada’s Big Tree Program (appears to have been inactive since 2015).

United States, New Hampshire: NH Big Tree Program.

United States, New Jersey: NJDEP Big and Heritage Trees of New Jersey.

United States, New Mexico: Big Tree Program.

United States, New York: New York State Big Tree Register.

United States, North Carolina: North Carolina Champion Trees.

United States, North Dakota: Champion Trees of North Dakota.

United States, Ohio: Ohio’s Big Tree Program.

United States, Oklahoma: Great Trees of Oklahoma (appears to be inactive since 2014).

United States, Oregon and Washington: Champion Tree Registry for Oregon and Washington.

United States, Pennsylvania: Champion Trees of Pennsylvania.

United States, Rhode Island: Helen Walker Raleigh Champion Trees of Rhode Island Registry Program.

United States, South Carolina: SC Champion Trees.

United States, South Dakota: South Dakota Register of Big Trees.

United States, Tennessee: Tennessee Champion Tree Program.

United States, Texas: Texas Big Tree Registry.

United States, Utah: Big Tree Directory.

United States, Vermont: Vermont Big Tree Program.

United States, Virginia: Virginia Big Tree Register.

United States, West Virginia: West Virginia Big Tree Program.

United States, Wisconsin: Champion Tree Program (appears to be inactive as of early 2024).

United States, Wyoming: Wyoming Champion Tree Register.

Botanical Gardens

List of botanical gardens is a Wikipedia page, covering major gardens throughout the world. There are also many similar Wikipedia pages, linked from this page, covering specific countries, and listing major arboreta.

The Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh is globally the most important institution doing research on rare and endangered conifers.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew page is particularly good for publications, and has a good Links page. And, if you visit only one botanical garden in your life, this should be it; Mecca for botanists.

The Ian McKean Pinetum in New Zealand, located at (-39.87848, 175.96314), started in 1958, has over 300 conifer species, most of which are labeled. Free access. Haven't visited yet, looks great.

Nurseries and Seed Sellers

In general, these are firms that have contacted me and asked to be linked. I have not dealt with them and do not know if they are reliable. Be sure to check your nation's regulations regarding plant importation before buying from these sources. There are also a number of Facebook groups, such as Planet Conifer, where people occasionally post notice of seed sales.

Conifers Garden is a Hungarian business that sells seeds and seedlings of a wide variety of hard-to-find conifer species.

Crowfoot Nursery is a U.S. (Oregon) business that sells a wide variety of conifer species (50 in stock in January 2020), almost exclusively ornamental cultivars.

Naturix Seeds is a Chinese business that sells seeds and seedlings of a wide variety of about 20-50 conifers, some of them hard-to-find.

Miscellany

The Green Pinky is a sponsor of the Gymnosperm Database and a useful source for gardening and horticulture. Many pages in the Bushes and Trees section of the site are concerned with conifers.

The Conifer Phytochemicals is an encyclopedia article that provides a good overview of the diversity of chemicals that occur primarily or exclusively in conifers.

The American Conifer Society site has some good articles, with a very clear focus on horticulture, mainly of ornamental forms.

The Arboretum de Villardebelle provides a fine selection of conifer photos, including a substantial cone collection.

The Central America and Mexico Coniferous Resources Cooperative (CAMCORE) is a tree breeding organization that works to maintain broad genetic bases of Pinus species for use in plantation forestry in tropical, subtropical and subtemperate regions. They also work with with several threatened species native to the southern USA.

Conifers Around the World is a continuing series of blog posts by Debreczy and Racz, authors of the excellent two-volume set Conifers Around the World, on various interesting temperate conifers, observed in habitat, usually presented with many good photos.

The Cycad Society may not tell you everything you ever wanted to know about cycads, but it makes a very good attempt. Highlights include the section on species conservation alerts and the large collection of original species descriptions.

Guatemalan Conifers is a UN FAO review of the conifers of Guatemala and their uses.

The International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi and Plants is the rule book for assigning scientific names to plant taxa.

The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is the leading institution working in dendrochronology, the study of tree rings. Similarly, the Tree-Ring Society is the only formal association of dendrochronologists worldwide. They publish a journal, Tree-Ring Research, sponsor international meetings, archive tree-ring data, etc.

The Mountains of California: The Forests is a chapter from John Muir's 1894 book, the Mountains of California, in which he describes the awesome conifers of the Sierra Nevada in terms both inspiring and scientifically accurate. The website includes the full text of the book, with illustrations.

TreeGirl, AKA Julianne Skai Arbor, likes to travel the world and photograph herself unclothed, very close to impressive trees. She's an excellent photographer. Her online gallery features many trees, quite a few of them conifers. Her Welwitschia photo is exceptional, too.

TreeLib is a nicely organized site that provides excellent photographs and some information on many different species of trees, both gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Western Forest Insects and Diseases is a collection of links to all sorts of information on the subject.