Is there a way to expand the db for garlic to include hardneck/softneck/weakly bolting hardneck designation as well as garlic type (porcelain, turban, artichoke, etc.)?

Certainly. How about this:

Entry for "Neck type" with checkboxes for:
Hardneck
Softneck
Weakly bolting hardneck

And Entry for "Garlic type" with checkboxes for:
Porcelain
Turban
Artichoke
Other (with a magic text field)

Sounds good? Anything else to add while I'm in there?

Could we add all of the types (Rocambole, Purple Stripe, Porcelain, Turban, Artichoke, Silverskin, Asiatic and Creole)?

Also, I see that all garlic is listed as Allium sativum without the sub-species listed (sativum (the soft-necks) vs ophioscorodon (the hardnecks)). I think this may actually be a good thing (the lack of sub-species) as there are those pesky "ophios" that resemble a sativum in the south (ie. the hardnecks that are actually weakly bolting types making them suitable for those of us in the warmer climates). I like the necktype designation much better

I've updated the data architecture for garlics to include both these entries (including all the types you added).

I agree that relying on the neck type makes things convenient. If anyone ever gives us a hard time about not including the subspecies, we can address it again at that time.

We don't list the subspecies because all of them have now been classified as synonyms for A. sativum. In fact, we do have an entry for A. sativum var. sativum, which is not an accepted name and will have to be merged with the A. sativum entry.

Zuzu, do you know when they were all re-classified back to sativuum sativum? All of my resources show A.sativum sativum and A. sativum ophioscorodon per the DNA studies back in 2003.

dave said:I've updated the data architecture for garlics to include both these entries (including all the types you added).

I agree that relying on the neck type makes things convenient. If anyone ever gives us a hard time about not including the subspecies, we can address it again at that time.

Here are the Catalogue of Life data, updated as of November 19, 2013.

http://www.catalogueoflife.org...

Thank you so much! I will update my info