Garden accessions

Page in Finnish: Puutarhojen kasvikannat

Kotka can be used to manage also living garden collections and their accessions. Currently Luomus, University of Jyväskylä and University of Turku botaic garden are using Kotka for their living collections management.

Luomus Horticulture team has their own private Wiki for more detailed Kotka instructions (in Finnish).

For instructions on how to search branches, see Other searches.

Garden accessions data is not yet publicly available outside Kotka, so it is not shown in laji.fi. We have plans to publish suitable parts of the accession information on their own theme page under laji.fi.

Accession data

Garden accessions (kasvikanta) are much like museum specimens in Kotka. Accessions include information about the provenance of the accession, collector, collection date, location, identifications, owner, etc.

There is a separate web form for adding accessions in Kotka (hence also own datatype accession) and they can be imported using Excel import sheets, just like other types of specimens. Accessions have some specific fields or functions that other data types don't use:

• The field original catalogue number can be generated from the sequence specified for Luomus accessions. The system also checks, whether the entered catalogue number is already in use.
• IPEN number (International Plant Exchange Number for Botanical gardens, see BGCI page for more information)
• Voucher specimen ID: ID or the voucher specimen in a herbarium
• Planned location: garden location where this accessions is planned to be located in the future
• Seed bank information
  • Number of sampled individuals
  • % of plant population giving seeds
  • Size of sampling area m2
  • Seed maturity
  • Fruit type
  • Seed morphology
  • Infestation
• Provenance: Origin or source of the garden accession
• Cultivation information: any notes about the cultivation of the accession in our conditions
• Acquired from Organisation: Organisation where the accession was acquired, links to our list of organisations
• Transfer agreement

Branch data

Branches are locations of the accession in the garden (Kasvikannan sijoitukset puutarhassa). An accession can have any number of branches from 0 to n. A branch can be a living one, when a green box is shown, or an old branch, where the accession used to be but has died or been transferred (see in the screen capture below, a view of the branches of the accession http://id.luomus.fi/L.1 or 00XX-0001)

The branch box view shows all the branches (grey/dead/depleted ones can be hidden). In each box, the name of the garden area, the number of plants in the branch, and the number of events is shown.

Branches can be edited, added and deleted only by using the web form, there is no mass import/or edit available for users yet.

The branch data entry form includes the following fields:

• Location: Garden area where the branch is located (puutarhan lohko), mandatory information. Garden locations are collection resources in Kotka, can be seen in the collection tree.
• Sublocation: more specific location of the plant in the garden area (alalohko)
• Notes: any notes about the branch
• Latitude (WGS 84) ja Longitude (WGS 84): Exact coordinates for the location of the plant in the garden, in WGS 84 format
• Garden location notes: additional information related to the location and coordinates in the garden
• Exists: whether the branch is dead or alive

Event data

Events are treatments or other actions done to the plant(s) in a branch (tapahtumat ja hoitotoimet). Each branch can have 0 to n events.

Events can be added/deleted only using the web form, there is no mass edit/import for events in Kotka yet.

The event data entry field includes the following fields:

• Amount: for storing the number of individuals/plants in the branch. Input can be
  • n: number of plants in the branch
  • -n: reduction to the previous amount of plants in the branch
  • +n: addition to the previous amount of plants in the branch
• Event type: mandatory information
  • Available options: https://schema.laji.fi/alt/MY.eventType
• Date: when did the event happen
• Doer: who did the action
• Notes: any free-text notes about the event

Development

We currently have the first version of living collections management functionalities in place in Kotka. We are planning to develop the section further based on user needs and include for example:

• Garden maps and related tools
• Tools to store garden location coordinate information
• Mass edit tools for branches and events
• etc.