Help

This section briefly explains some of the ways to explore VicFlora and provides information on copyright, citation and how to provide feedback.

Definitions of establishment means, threat status, undescribed taxa, and notes on classification are provided under the About tab.

The VicFlora website enables the user to discover various types of information about plants occurring in Victoria. The following is a brief outline of ways to explore VicFlora.

Main options

Find

Two ‘find’ boxes are provided. Simple searches can be accessed using the ‘find’ box on the top right of all pages.  By entering a search term (species, genus, family etc.) information related to that search term will be displayed. The search terms are predictive, so options including the partial term entered will be offered (e.g. entering ‘euc’ will generate a pick-list with Eucalyptus, Euchiton and Eucryphia) from which the desired item may be selected.  The other ‘find’ box, which allows more tailored queries, is accessed via the Search tab.

The following options are accessed via tabs at the top of pages.

By using the Search function users can search for any taxon, or, by selecting facets in the left column, customise a search of the entire Victorian flora. Available facets cover classification, occurrence, establishment means, threat status and related information.  Simply check the box beside the facet of interest and then click on the ‘Apply’ button that appears. Taxa that are scored with those facets (or attributes) will be listed alphabetically.

Browse Classification

By clicking on this tab a complete hierarchical classification of the Victorian flora may be seen. Clicking on any of the divisions within the classification will display the subordinate levels, right down to the terminal taxa within that division. The systematic arrangement of taxa follows that of the Australian Plant Census (see APC website) which in turn generally adopts the arrangement provided by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (see APG website). See the discussion of classification under the About tab for more information on this topic.

Keys

Choosing the ‘Keys’ tab will direct the user to all keys relating to the flora of Victoria. Simply enter the search term (family, genus, species) into the ‘Find a key in this project’ box in the upper left of the screen and your desired key will be highlighted in the list of all available keys in VicFlora. The keys present paired options of differing character states.  By selecting the option that matches your unknown specimen you advance to the next pair of options, and this process is repeated until you are left with one taxon remaining. Keys may be ‘back-tracked’ using the return arrow symbol in the ‘Current node’ bar at the top of the key. When a final species (genus etc.) has been achieved, clicking on that species (genus etc.) will return the user to the VicFlora profile for that taxon. Keys to subordinate taxa may also be accessed from the VicFlora pages directly, via a link at the bottom of each relevant profile page.

Checklists

The Checklists tab allows a list of vascular plants to be generated for any gazetted reserve in Victoria.   All gazetted reserves are shown on a map and zooming in will allow the area for which the plant list is required to be selected on the map.  To the right of the map a list of reserves in the selected area will appear, and the user may select the gazetted reserve for which they wish to generate a checklist of taxa.  Many reserves are themselves composed of smaller reserves and sectors, and comprehensiveness of information for any of these is variable. While potentially useful, this option is still something of a ‘work in progress’.

Glossary

An alphabetic pick-list of definitions of botanical terms used in VicFlora is accessed via this tab. The list of terms is comprehensive, but should any terms be encountered in descriptions that are not clarified in the Glossary, please contact the VicFlora webmaster via the ‘Help’ tab.

Profile page features

Taxonomic status

Indicates whether names are correctly applied, synonyms, or incorrectly applied in recent treatments.

  • Accepted: indicates whether or not a name is accepted as a name in current use in Victoria. These are taxa which have had their taxonomy and nomenclature assessed by herbarium botanists, and have been determined as meeting the criteria for inclusion into the VicFlora.
  • Synonym: Synonyms (and the type of synonym where relevant) are indicated as such and the accepted name will be provided.
  • Misapplication: indicates where names have been incorrectly applied to Victorian plants.

Occurrence status

Indicates whether the taxon is currently recognised as occurring in Victoria, or if it is known or believed to have become extinct since European settlement. Both native and non-native taxa are included.

  • Present: taxa that are extant in Victoria
  • Endemic: native taxa occurring only in Victoria, and which do not occur naturally outside the state
  • Extinct: taxa believed to no longer occur in Victoria (See definition from ‘Threat status’ section)
  • Excluded: taxa where names have been either misapplied, or based on erroneous reports.

Establishment means

Establishment means refers to the ‘origin status’ of a taxon i.e. it indicates if the taxon is regarded as native or introduced in Victoria.

  • Native: taxa that occur naturally and/or without human intervention in Victoria (See Establishment means for more information on this topic)
  • Naturalised in part(s) of the State: includes taxa that are naturally occurring in some areas of the state but have become naturalised, often after ‘escaping’ from cultivation, elsewhere in the state.
  • Naturalised: those alien plants that sustain self-replacing populations in the wild without direct intervention by people OR in spite of human intervention, by recruitment from seeds or vegetative propagules or by vegetative spread (See Establishment means for more information on this topic)
  • Sparingly established: taxa that are not fully naturalised (See Establishment means for more information on this topic)
  • Uncertain: It is uncertain whether the taxon is truly native in Victoria (See Establishment means for more information on this topic)

The text provided in VicFlora is copyright to the Royal Botanic Gardens Board, but is published here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international licence (CC BY 4.0).

Similarly, many of the botanical images are copyright to the Royal Botanic Gardens Board and other rights holders, but are published here under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial ShareAlike 4.0 international licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

In some cases, third party photographers hold copyright to images presented in VicFlora, and they have elected to retain their reproduction rights. Written permission from the copyright holder is required prior to copying or re-using this material.

Can I reproduce a botanical image?

Check the licence! Click any thumbnail image to view the image at larger size, and the associated publication details. All images are accompanied by the name of the species, the artist or photographer, and the licence under which it has been published. The licence determines if you can reproduce the image for your purposes or not. Be sure to respect copyright notices, and follow the terms of the licences.

For further information or for commercial enquiries, email library@rbg.vic.gov.au.

Citation

The preferred format for citation of this online publication is

VicFlora (2022). Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, <https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au>, last accessed 07 Jan. 2022.

Enquiries and Feedback

Enquiries about copyright, and suggestions for improving VicFlora, including usability of the website, new plant records and improvements to keys or descriptions should be submitted via email to vicflora@rbg.vic.gov.au.

For help with future identifications, you may wish to consider Facebook groups such as Plant Identification Australia, the Australian Native Plant Enthusiasts, or the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria.