Accuracy of Identifications

We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the identifications of the plants in this collection of photos. Many of these photos have been contributed by native plant enthusiastists who were not trained as botanists. Occasionally we discover that the plant in a photo has been incorrectly identified by the photographer, though usually the genus is correct. Typically identifications at the genus level are fairly reliable for this database. Nevertheless, mistakes do occur.

Our policy is to accept the scientific name provided by the photographer. Because of the size of the CalPhotos database, all new photos are handled by computer programs, so there is no human review to make sure the plant in the photo matches the taxon provided by the photographer. However, before a new plant photo is added, we do attempt to look up the name provided by the photographer at ITIS. If the name is not found, we advise the photographer of this, since it can indicate a misspelling or typographical error. But the photographer is free to ignore this, and supply any name for the photo.

Correction Policy

In addition to checking all names for new plant photos at ITIS, we also provide a mechanism for experts to review photos for accurate identifications, annotate the photos with their remarks, and update scientific names that are found to be incorrect or out of date. For information about this annotation system, please see CalPhotos: annotations and corrections. We notify the photographer and/or contributing organization of any changes that are made to the information they supplied originally.

In the case of a disagreement about the name for a plant, our policy is to accept the photographer's name. The detail page for any photo that has had a name change contains a history of the changes, including the reviewers' names, dates, and reasons for change.