February 14, 2024

Shared taxonomic data

Are you a conservation enthusiast or just curious about the impact of your collection? With this release, new factual data is now available for your taxa – without the need for any action!

  • View and filter IUCN Red List status, life forms, native distribution and climate in data tables for all record types
  • New derived data section on taxa pages displaying additional fields, including link to IUCN Red List evaluation
  • New IUCN Red List donut to dashboard showing breakdown of statuses in the collection site
  • Native distribution is now derived from metadata and can be overridden using existing interpretation field
  • New taxa columns are now available when downloading record CSVs
  • For more details on how IUCN assessments were handled using Plants of the World Online as the backbone, see here

Improvements

  • Renamed “natural distribution” field to “native distribution” on taxon pages
  • Fixed an issue where tags were being hidden in settings pages
  • Fixed taxon authorship filter returning unexpected records
  • Filterable columns can now be narrowed down with search
  • Taxon authorship is now available when downloading accession and plant material CSVs
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January 12, 2024

Date filtering

Looking for more flexibility when filtering the dates in your collection? Now you can filter plant materials by their Last observed, Date added and Date removed fields. You can also filter accessions by their Accession date and Deaccession date. This update allows records to be filtered using a single date or across a date range – simply choose from the preset dates provided or apply your own custom values via the calendar.

Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where filtering out tags hid records without tags
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January 12, 2024

Enhanced feedback on desktop

Your feedback is the fertiliser for our work, and is crucial in helping us improve. Now it's easier than ever to share your thoughts directly within Hortis. Simply click on "Feedback" to rate your experience on any page. You can even highlight a specific element that you love or dislike by adding it to your feedback in two clicks!

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January 4, 2024

Updates to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

We are pleased to announce that we have updated our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy with a few minor changes. These updated policies go into effect from January 4, 2024.

You can download a redaction of the changes on these links: Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

We are committed to providing our users with the best possible experience, and these updates are part of that commitment. We believe that these changes will help us better serve the community while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.

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December 13, 2023

Species-level shared taxonomy

Keeping track of plant names and synonyms is a major challenge for most gardens. That is why we’re thrilled to announce this huge milestone to help you with your scientific names. The integration with Plants of the World Online (POWO) is now extended to include species, lower ranks, and synonyms.

Shared taxonomy is not just about name validation; it's about helping all users with a unified backbone and a taxonomic opinion. This means fewer errors, speedier data entry, and better data quality across the board.

From authorship being automatically derived, to a streamlined flow for recording new taxa, this feature represents significant changes to the way you can incorporate taxonomic data.

Here’s a closer look at what this release means for you:

  • Shared scientific names expanded to include species and lower ranks (infraspecies) from POWO
  • Updated taxon scientific name autocomplete to help match on new ranks
  • Improved new taxon flow when creating a new accession
  • Automatically derive or override a taxon’s authorship from a verified species or infraspecies
  • Added new validation column to taxa tables with filtering on rank, status, and unvalidated
  • All users’ existing taxa names have been validated (98.3% names validated to at least a genus, and 78.8% validated to a species level name)
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November 30, 2023

Where is my trash?

Ever felt anxious deleting records, accidentally losing crucial data? We get it. That's why we added audit logs to Hortis early on, ensuring every change, even deletions, is securely stored. Now, you can easily review and restore needed records from your "trash" with the new "Site Trash Pages".

To use this feature, select "Site Trash" from the menu next to your site name in the navigation bar, or “Taxa Trash” from the menu next to your organisation name. This update ensures a more secure, manageable, and user-friendly experience in handling your unwanted records.

Improvements

  • Improved login flow, reliability and speed
  • Fixed issue when navigating between the organisation pages and collection site pages
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October 30, 2023

Enhanced data tables

Our new tables have all been enhanced with a number of new columns, filters and sorting options, to give you greater functionality when browsing your collection’s data.

  • Taxa, accessions, and plant materials tables have been redesigned with a fresh layout
  • Hide and show columns to customize your tables depending on your workflow
  • Photos can now be viewed and filtered on in the materials table
  • Materials overdue a follow-up can now be viewed and sorted
  • Additional columns such as common name, tags and notes can be displayed
  • Filter and sort on accession data such as provenance, and donor from the materials table
  • + More filters, sorting and optional columns

Improvements

  • Default table row count has been set to 25
  • Pressing ⌘/Ctrl while clicking on table rows will open that record a new tab
  • When returning to Hortis, you will be automatically directed to the last visited site
  • The sidebar navigation has been reconfigured to display the last visited site as the default option
  • Navigating back through a non-wild accession form will now exclude collection data fields
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October 26, 2023

Fixes and improvements

  • ‍Improved genus validation in new accession input flow
  • Fixed plant materials being incorrectly counted in search results
  • Updated positioning of materials on the map so that users are navigated to the previous screen after changes are applied
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October 12, 2023

Donor/Supplier autocomplete

Users now have suggestions of existing organisation donors/suppliers when creating and updating accessions. When filtering accessions, the suggestions are based on donors/suppliers from the current collection site.

Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where certain filters were not applied when downloading CSVs
  • Fixed an issue where 207 genera from Plants of the World Online were mistakenly associated with families from Catalogue of Life
  • Updated some taxa that were assigned a synonym genus instead of an available accepted genus during the migration to shared taxonomy
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October 9, 2023

Identification fields

Details around the taxonomic identification can now be recorded in new accession fields. These are designed to help institutions document the certainty of plant material identification, aligning with bioinformatics standards. You can opt-in to these fields using Site Settings.

  • Add identification details when creating and updating accessions
  • View identification qualifiers appended to the scientific name on accessions and associated plant materials

 Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where accession collection data could not be removed
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