[Sca-cooks] Fwd: Medieval plant database

[Lilinah]

Passing this along, since it sounds like something folks here would 
be interested in...

>To: SCA-AuthenticCooks at yahoogroups.com
>From: "Marian" <marian at buttery.org>
>Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:39:31 -0000
>Subject: AuthenticCooks Medieval plant database
>
>Good morrow to all.
>
>Well, it is finally up and running!
>Please visit my database of Medieval garden plants at:
>
>http://www.buttery.org/marian/Garden_Welcome.html
><http://www.buttery.org/marian/Garden_Welcome.html>
>
>This database contains 260 herbs, fruits, vines, trees and shrubs named
>in Medieval garden lists by authors from the 9th through the 16th
>centuries (plus Palladius, since he was much translated and consulted in
>our period).
>
>The database provides common and Latin names, descriptions (both period
>and modern), and pictures; it notes uses for scent, cookery, dyes,
>medicine, and other purposes.
>
>I used Filemaker Pro because of its incredible search capabilities, but
>if you are not familiar with the program, please see my Helpful Notes
>page for an introduction.
>
>As an example of the search function, suppose you are only interested in
>gardens described by ANY German author:
>(1) Click the magnifying glass icon to go into Find Mode; (2) choose YES
>for Walafrid Strabo; (3) click PERFORM FIND (the results will show 32
>plants, which you can browse by clicking on the pages of the open book
>icon -- right page browses forward, left page browses backward).
>Go into Find Mode again and choose YES for Hildegard von Bingen. Instead
>of Perform Find, click EXTEND FOUND SET (the results now number 129 for
>the combined search).
>Repeat these steps (find, chose, extend) choosing YES for Albertus
>Magnus and get a total of 196 records.
>
>On the other hand, if you want to see only those plants mentioned by
>ALL German authors:
>Go into Find Mode; choose YES for Walafrid, Hildegard, and Albertus;
>click Perform Find; you'll see the only 22 plants mentioned by all
>three.
>
>How would you know these were the German authors? Start by clicking on
>the gold button for MORE ABOUT THESE LISTS.
>
>I hope you find it useful, but I would appreciate any and all feedback.
>
>Thanks,
>--Old Marian