July 1, 2006 (Vol. 26, No. 13)
URL:
http://herbarium.usu.edu/webmanual
Rating:
Strong Points: Manual on the Web
Weak Points: Organization could be improved
Summary:
A wide-ranging site with an interesting focus, Intermountain Herbarium Demo provides visitors with information on the flora and fungi of the intermountain region. The pages, hosted at Utah State University, are full of data collections, specimen collections, reports, images, and info on workshops and classes. There’s a bit of something for everyone interested in plants. The organization’s collection of specimens, over 240,000, focuses on the intermountain region but contains holdings from all over the world. One electronic goodie at the site stands out—confusingly titled both Manual on the Web and Grass Manual on the Web, the manual is actually a bit more of a distribution/map database for selected grasses. The information collection is extensive and easy to access, so the name isn’t really all that important.
