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About the Plant Database

I’ve spent years researching and learning about the properties of native plants as I attempt to grow them, and overtime this has resulted in a 104 (and growing) column spreadsheet filled with the information I find useful when I am searching for plants, in a parse-able format. This year, I have been actively tracking the plants I have sown from seed in it, and Colin has taken my spreadsheet, and created a database in our new website. Please note, this is a learning tool, and very much a work in progress. I would appreciate any feedback or issue reporting if you have taken the time to play with it, as it will help me improve the next iteration. 

Resources and Bibliography

Sources are organized by category and tagged with their tier:
T1 (Governing), T2 (Professional), T3 (Supplementary), or Computed.

I. Taxonomy, Identity & Regional Nomenclature

  • [S1] Brouillet, L., Coursol, F., Meades, S. J., Favreau, M., Anions, M., Belisle, P., & Desmet, P. (2010–present). VASCAN: The Database of Vascular Plants of Canada [Database]. Canadensys. data.canadensys.net/vascan T1
  • [S2] International Plant Names Index. (n.d.). IPNI [Database]. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Harvard University Herbaria, & Australian Biological Resources Study. ipni.org T1
  • [S3] Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library. (n.d.). OWSL plant catalogue [Database]. wildflowerseedlibrary.ca T3
  • [S4] Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. (n.d.). Native plant database [Database]. University of Texas at Austin. wildflower.org T2
  • [S5] Espace pour la vie. (n.d.). Flore [Database]. Montreal Botanical Garden. espacepourlavie.ca T1
  • [S6] Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Eds.). (1993–present). Flora of North America north of Mexico (22+ vols.). Oxford University Press. floranorthamerica.org T1
  • [S7] University of Michigan. (n.d.). Michigan Flora [Database]. michiganflora.net T2
  • [S48] Global Biodiversity Information Facility. (n.d.). GBIF / Canadensys [Database]. gbif.org T1
  • [S50] Integrated Taxonomic Information System. (n.d.). ITIS [Database]. itis.gov T1

II. Design, Ecology & Soil

  • [S8] Vogt, B. (n.d.). Monarch Gardens [Blog]. monarchgard.com T3
  • [S9] Hansen, R., & Stahl, F. (1993). Perennials and their garden habitats. Timber Press. T2
  • [S10] Hilty, J. (n.d.). Illinois Wildflowers [Website]. illinoiswildflowers.info T3
  • [S11] United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. (n.d.). PLANTS Database [Database]. plants.usda.gov T1
  • [S12] Marie-Victorin, F. (1995). Flore laurentienne (3rd ed.). Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal. florelaurentienne.com T2
  • [S49] Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (n.d.). Canadian Soil Information Service (CanSIS) / National Soil DataBase (NSDB) [Data set]. sis.agr.gc.ca T1
  • [S53] Soudzilovskaia, N. A., et al. (2020). FungalRoot: Global online database of plant mycorrhizal associations. New Phytologist, 227(3), 955–966. plutof.ut.ee T2
  • [S56] USDA Forest Service. (n.d.). Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) [Database]. feis-crs.org T1
  • [S65] Akene.ca. (n.d.). The sociability index of plants [Blog post]. akene.ca T3
  • [S66] George, E. (2021). Perennial plant sociability metrics [Master’s thesis, Cornell University]. T2
  • [S67] Vogt, B. (n.d.). Using sociability rankings for successful natural garden design [Blog post]. Monarch Gardens. monarchgard.com T3
  • [S70] Localeaf Gardens. (2026). Localeaf Sociability Heuristic [Computed index]. Derived from S11, S6, S56, S61, S10, S58; validated against S65–S67. Computed

III. Faunal & Pollinator Associations

  • [S13] Tallamy, D. W., & National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Native Plant Finder [Database]. nativeplantfinder.nwf.org T2
  • [S14] Natural History Museum, London. (n.d.). HOSTS: A database of the world’s Lepidopteran hostplants [Data set]. data.nhm.ac.uk T1
  • [S15] iNaturalist. (n.d.). iNaturalist [Database]. California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic. inaturalist.org T2
  • [S16] Butterflies and Moths of North America. (n.d.). BAMONA [Database]. butterfliesandmoths.org T2
  • [S17] Fowler, J. (n.d.). Specialist bees of the eastern United States [Website]. jarrodfowler.com T3
  • [S18] Holm, H. (2014). Pollinators of native plants. Pollination Press. pollinatorsnativeplants.com T3
  • [S19] Martin, A. C., Zim, H. S., & Nelson, A. L. (1951). American wildlife and plants: A guide to wildlife food habits. Dover Publications. T2
  • [S20] Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). All About Birds [Database]. Cornell University. allaboutbirds.org T1
  • [S57] University of North Carolina. (n.d.). Avian Diet Database [Database]. aviandiet.unc.edu T2
  • [S64] Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. (2013–2022). Regional plant lists for pollinators and beneficial insects [Data set]. xerces.org T2
  • [S68] Big Bee Network & Global Biotic Interactions. (n.d.). Bee-plant interaction index [Data set]. zenodo.org T2
  • [S69] Global Biotic Interactions. (n.d.). GloBI API [Database]. globalbioticinteractions.org T2

IV. Geospatial, Proximity & Conservation

  • [S21] Commission for Environmental Cooperation. (2021). Terrestrial ecoregions of North America: Level III (v2) [Data set]. cec.org T1
  • [S22] NatureServe. (n.d.). NatureServe Explorer [Database]. explorer.natureserve.org T1
  • [S23] Gillett, J. M., & Moore, R. J. (n.d.). Flora of Gatineau Park [Unpublished manuscript]. Canadian Museum of Nature. T3
  • [S24] Gouvernement du Québec, MELCCFP. (n.d.). Centre de données sur le patrimoine naturel du Québec (CDPNQ) [Database]. environnement.gouv.qc.ca T1
  • [S25] Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. (n.d.). Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) [Database]. ontario.ca T1
  • [S26] Environment and Climate Change Canada. (n.d.). Species at Risk Act (SARA) public registry [Database]. species-registry.canada.ca T1
  • [S27] United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Level III and IV ecoregions [Data set]. epa.gov T1
  • [S51] Kartesz, J. T. (n.d.). Biota of North America Program (BONAP) [Database]. bonap.net T2
  • [S54] Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria. (n.d.). CNH portal / Marie-Victorin Herbarium (MT) [Database]. Université de Montréal. neherbaria.org T2
  • [S62] Brunton, D. F. (2005). Vascular plants of the City of Ottawa. City of Ottawa. ottawa.ca T2
  • [S63] Gillett, J. M., & White, D. J. (1978). Checklist of vascular plants of the Ottawa-Hull region, Canada. National Museum of Natural Sciences. biodiversitylibrary.org T2

V. Edibility, Medicine & Permaculture

  • [S28] Moerman, D. E. (1998–present). Native American Ethnobotany Database (NAEB) [Database]. Botanical Research Institute of Texas. naeb.brit.org T2
  • [S29] Plants for a Future. (n.d.). PFAF database [Database]. pfaf.org T3
  • [S30] Thayer, S. (2006). The forager’s harvest: A guide to identifying, harvesting, and preparing edible wild plants. Forager’s Harvest Press. T3
  • [S31] Duke, J. A. (n.d.). Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases [Database]. USDA Agricultural Research Service. phytochem.nal.usda.gov T1
  • [S32] Jacke, D., & Toensmeier, E. (2005). Edible forest gardens (Vols. 1–2). Chelsea Green Publishing. T2
  • [S33] Mollison, B. (1988). Permaculture: A designer’s manual. Tagari Publications. T3
  • [S34] Holmgren, D. (2002). Permaculture: Principles and pathways beyond sustainability. Holmgren Design Services. permacultureprinciples.com T3
  • [S35] Cech, R. (n.d.). Making plant medicine / The medicinal herb grower [Website]. Strictly Medicinal Seeds. strictlymedicinalseeds.com T3
  • [S36] Health Canada. (n.d.). Licensed Natural Health Products Database (LNHPD) [Database]. health-products.canada.ca T1
  • [S71] Chalker-Scott, L. (2023). Companion planting (EM128E). Washington State University Extension. T2
  • [S72] Hemenway, T. (2009). Gaia’s garden: A guide to home-scale permaculture (2nd ed.). Chelsea Green Publishing. T3
  • [S73] Localeaf Gardens. (2026). Localeaf Guild Heuristic [Computed index]. Derived from S11, S53, S56, S64, S68; validated against S72, S29. Computed

VI. Toxicity, Architecture & Roots

  • [S38] Cornell University, Department of Animal Science. (n.d.). Poisonous plants informational database [Database]. poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu T1
  • [S39] Dirr, M. A. (2009). Manual of woody landscape plants (6th ed.). Stipes Publishing. T2
  • [S40] Farrar, J. L. (1995). Trees in Canada. Fitzhenry & Whiteside / Canadian Forest Service. T2
  • [S41] Burns, R. M., & Honkala, B. H. (Tech. coords.). (1990). Silvics of North America (Agriculture Handbook 654). USDA Forest Service. srs.fs.usda.gov T1
  • [S42] Kutschera, L., & Lichtenegger, E. (1960–2002). Wurzelatlas [Root atlas] (Multiple vols.). DLG-Verlag. T2
  • [S43] Peterson, R. T., & McKenny, M. (Various editions). A field guide to wildflowers (Peterson Field Guides). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. T3
  • [S58] Guerrero-Ramírez, N. R., et al. (2021). Global root traits (GRooT) database. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30(1), 25–37. groot-database.github.io T2
  • [S59] Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (n.d.). Fine-Root Ecology Database (FRED) [Database]. U.S. Department of Energy. roots.ornl.gov T2

VII. Nursery & Seed Stewardship

  • [S44] Royal Botanic Gardens Kew & Society for Ecological Restoration. (n.d.). Seed Information Database (SID) [Database]. ser-sid.org T1
  • [S45] Cullina, W. (2000). Growing and propagating wildflowers of the United States and Canada. Houghton Mifflin. T2
  • [S46] Prairie Moon Nursery. (n.d.). Plant profiles and propagation data [Website]. prairiemoon.com T3
  • [S47] Baskin, C. C., & Baskin, J. M. (2014). Seeds: Ecology, biogeography, and evolution of dormancy and germination (2nd ed.). Academic Press. T2
  • [S60] Native Plant Network. (n.d.). Propagation protocols [Database]. USDA Forest Service. npn.rngr.net T3
  • [S61] Native Plant Trust. (n.d.). Go Botany [Database]. gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org T3