Tree TSAR information

Suggestions and Corrections

Help Improve Tree TSAR

Tree TSAR is designed to change when better information becomes available. Plant taxonomy is active: phylogenetic studies are published, nomenclatural problems are resolved, distributions are revised, historical literature is rediscovered, and specialists may know regional or linguistic evidence that is difficult to locate through ordinary searches.

If you have identified a possible error, overlooked source, alternative taxonomic interpretation, common-name issue, or other information that could improve a Tree TSAR page, you can submit it for review.

Submissions are editorial suggestions rather than automatic changes. Tree TSAR may adopt a recommendation, investigate it further, retain the existing treatment, or explain why another interpretation is preferred. The most useful submissions tell us what should be examined and why.

What Can You Submit?

Suggestions can concern any part of a Tree TSAR treatment:

• Taxonomy and Classification - Species boundaries, generic placement, family circumscription, infrageneric classification, or Supertaxonomy.
• Nomenclature - Authorships, synonyms, types, priority, legitimacy, publication details, or overlooked combinations.
• Scientific Literature - Relevant papers, monographs, floras, theses, historical publications, or other sources.
• Common Names - Established vernacular names, Indigenous or regional names, translations, linguistic evidence, conflicts, or misleading usage.
• Distribution and Ecology - Range corrections, habitat information, naturalized populations, ecological observations, or documented changes in occurrence.
• Morphology and Identification - Diagnostic characters, descriptions, illustrations, or identification problems.
• Conservation - Updated assessments, threats, population information, or authoritative conservation sources.
• Horticulture and Ethnobotany - Cultivation history, traditional uses, horticultural significance, or documented cultural information.
• Page Errors - Typographical mistakes, broken links, formatting problems, or incorrect structured information.

A suggestion does not need to challenge a major taxonomic treatment. Small corrections are useful too.

Suggest a Correction from a Taxon Page

Every Tree TSAR taxon page includes a small Suggest a Correction link. When possible, the form opens with the taxon or page name and the page URL already filled in. This reduces ambiguity and lets the contributor focus on describing the issue and providing evidence.

The same form can also be opened directly for suggestions that concern a broader method, a page not yet represented by a taxon record, or another Tree TSAR topic.

Submission Form

Submission Type * Choose one Taxonomic correction or alternative treatment Nomenclatural correction Scientific reference or overlooked literature Common-name or linguistic information Distribution or ecological information Conservation information Morphological or identification information Horticultural or ethnobotanical information Typographical, formatting, or link error Other suggestion

Taxon or Page *

Enter the scientific name or Tree TSAR page title involved. When the form is opened from a taxon page, this field can be supplied automatically.

Page URL Optional

Paste the Tree TSAR page address if available. This field can also be supplied automatically through Suggest a Correction.

What Should We Review? *

Describe the issue, correction, or suggestion as specifically as possible.

What Evidence Supports the Suggestion? Optional

Relevant observations, nomenclatural reasoning, comparisons with another treatment, or other supporting information are useful here.

Sources or References Optional

Provide citations, DOI links, URLs, book or journal references, herbarium records, database entries, or other sources. One source per line is helpful.

Your Name Optional

Affiliation or Expertise Optional

An institution, professional role, research specialty, or regional area of expertise can provide useful context.

Email Address Optional

Suggestions without an email address can still be reviewed, but Tree TSAR cannot request clarification or report back to the contributor.

Names, email addresses, affiliations, and private correspondence do not automatically become public. Review the Phytonomen Privacy Policy before submitting.

I understand that submissions are suggestions for editorial review and that submitting information does not guarantee that Tree TSAR will adopt the proposed change.

Complete the required fields, acknowledgment, and security check to submit.

What Makes a Submission Especially Helpful?

The strongest submissions contain enough information for someone else to investigate the issue independently. When possible, identify the exact taxon or statement, explain the proposed correction, provide the underlying source rather than only another database’s conclusion, and distinguish firsthand observations from published evidence.

For nomenclatural questions, a protologue, type record, IPNI entry, or relevant Code provision can be especially useful. For taxonomic questions, the underlying phylogenetic or revisionary literature usually explains more than simply noting that another database uses a different accepted name.

Common-name submissions benefit from precise linguistic and geographic context. If a name belongs to a particular language, community, region, flora, or historical source, identify that context whenever possible.

Professional credentials are not required. A broken link or transcription error can be reported just as usefully as a complicated nomenclatural problem.

How Suggestions Are Evaluated

A recommendation becomes another source of evidence for editorial review. Tree TSAR may compare it with primary literature, nomenclatural databases, original descriptions, floras, herbarium resources, conservation authorities, linguistic references, or other appropriate sources.

Where a suggestion reveals an error, the page can be corrected. Where it raises a substantive scientific disagreement, additional research may be needed. Where the available evidence continues to support the existing Tree TSAR treatment, that treatment may remain in place.

The objective is to improve the reference without turning popularity or submission volume into a taxonomic voting system.

Acknowledging Contributors

A substantive contribution that materially improves a Tree TSAR treatment may be acknowledged when appropriate. Contributors who want to be identified should provide their name and, if relevant, affiliation.

Acknowledgment is discretionary and is not created automatically for every correction. An email address supplied for correspondence is never, by itself, permission to publish that address or identify the contributor publicly.

Privacy

Names, email addresses, affiliations, and private correspondence submitted through the form are used for evaluating the suggestion and communicating about it where appropriate. They do not automatically become public Tree TSAR content.

The form links to the general Phytonomen Privacy Policy for the full treatment of submitted information.

Other Questions

The Suggestions and Corrections form is intended for editorial contributions concerning Tree TSAR. Requests for professional botanical, ecological, horticultural, or taxonomic consulting services should be directed through Phytonomen Consulting.

Explore Further

• Sources and Editorial Standards - How submitted evidence is evaluated alongside published sources.
• How to Read a Tree TSAR Page - Where the Suggest a Correction link appears on taxon pages.
• Taxonomy and Nomenclature - Helpful context for nomenclatural corrections.
• How Tree TSAR Chooses Common Names - The evidence that makes a vernacular-name submission especially useful.