This post is made by one of our students as part of her PDC Home Correspondence Course.

Here is a list of Internet databases and other resources that I’ve found helpful in identifying plants and their potential uses in permaculture designs.

General

• Dave’s Garden PlantFiles: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/
• Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database: http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/
• The Plant List: http://www.theplantlist.org/
• University of Connecticut Plant Database (trees, shrubs and vines): http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/
• U.S. Department of Agriculture PLANTS Database: http://plants.usda.gov

North American native plants

• North American Native Plant Society Database: http://www.nanps.org/plant/plantlist.aspx
• University of Texas, Austin Native Plant Database: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/

Edible plants

• Eat the Weeds: http://www.eattheweeds.com/
• Food Plants International: http://www.foodplantsinternational.com/
• Fruitipedia – Edible Fruits of the World: http://www.fruitipedia.com/
• Natural Medicinal Herbs: http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/
• Plants for a Future: http://www.pfaf.org
• UrbanEdiblesWiki: http://wiki.urbanedibles.org
  • Leaf Shapes

Identifying uses for plants

• Dr. Duke’s Ethnobotany Database: http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/ethnobot.html
• Natural Medicinal Herbs: http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/
• Plants for a Future: http://www.pfaf.org
• University of Michigan, Dearborn Native American Ethnobotany Database:http://herb.umd.umich.edu/

Poisonous plants

• Cornell University Database of Poisonous Plants: http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration Poisonous Plant Database: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/plantox/index.cfm

Sarah Spotten currently lives in Colorado. As part of her course requirements she posted occasionally on topics related to her curriculum. You can see other posts by Sarah here. Her current projects can be found at http://sarahspotten.com.