Uncovering Environmental Change in the English Lake District:Using Computational Techniques to Trace Shifting Practice in the Historical Documentation of Flora

There is a lack of concrete knowledge about floristic change in Britain before the mid-twentieth century. Relevant evidence is available, but it is principally contained in disparate historical sources, and this is a major impediment to further research. In this article we demonstrate how these sources can be efficiently collated and analysed through the implementation of state-of-the-art computational-linguistic and historical-GIS techniques. We do so through a case study which focuses on the floristic history of the English Lake District. This region has been selected because of its outstanding cultural and environmental value and because it has been extensively and continuously documented since the late seventeenth century. We outline how Natural language processing (NLP) techniques can be integrated with Kew’s Plants of the World Online (POWO) database to enable temporal shifts in plant-naming conventions to be more accurately traced across a heterogeneous corpus of texts published between 1682 and 1904. Through collocate analysis and automated geoparsing techniques, the geographies associated with these plant names is then identified and extracted. Finally, we use geographic information systems (GIS) to demonstrate the potential of this dataset for geo-temporal analysis and for revealing the historical distribution of Lake District flora. In outlining our methodology, this article indicates how the spatial and digital humanities can benefit research both in environmental history and in the environmental sciences more widely

Chapter Plant Name Resources

Plant names are the key to communicating and managing information about plants. This paper considers how providers of high quality technical plant name information can better meet the requirements non-botanical audiences who also rely on plant names for elements of their work. The International Plant Name Index, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families and The Plant List are used as examples to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of plant name resources from a non-expert user’s perspective. The above resources can be thought of as botanists pushing data at audiences. Without closer engagement with users, however, there is a limit to their relevance and impact. The need to cover common names is a frequent criticism of existing resources. The Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS, www.kew.org/mpns) is an example of how plant name resources can be adapted to better address the needs of a non-botanical audience. Some of the major challenges are outlined and solutions suggested

Nomenclatural changes in Coleus and Plectranthus (Lamiaceae): a tale of more than two genera

A synopsis of the genera Coleus Lour, Equilabium A.J.Paton, Mwany. & Culham and Plectranthus L’Hér. (Lamiaceae, Tribe Ocimeae, Subtribe Plecranthinae) is presented. Generic delimitation follows a recently published molecular phylogeny which identified Coleus as the sister of the remaining genera of Subtribe Plectranthinae; Plectranthus as sister to Tetradenia Benth. and Thorncroftia N.E.Br., and a separate phylogenetically distinct genus Equilabium comprising species previously placed in Plectranthus. In this treatment, 294 species of Coleus, 42 of Equilabium, and 72 of Plectranthus are recognized. All but one of the combinations in Equilabium are new as only the genus and type species have been previously published. Two-hundred and twelve names are changed to combinations in Coleus from Plectranthus, Pycnostachys Hook. and Anisochilus Benth

Nomenclatural notes in Asian Zingiberaceae

Four new combinations; Gobba salarkhanii (M.A.Rahman & Yusuf) Govaerts, Riedelia plectophylla (K.Schum.) Govaerts, Zingiber fraseri var. major (Ridl.) Govaerts, Zingiber fraseri var. nervifolium (C.K.Lim & Meekiong) Govaerts and one replacement name; Riedelia brunneopilosa Govaerts, are validated for outstanding nomenclatural issues with some Asian Zingiberaceae