Talk:Persoonia longifolia

A fact from Persoonia longifolia appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 5 July 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Persoonia longifolia (pictured), known as the Upright Snottygobble, is a species of tall shrub characterised by its distinctive flakey paper-like dark red bark?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/July.

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Tall shrub

The Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management calls it a "tall shrub". How are they an "inferior reference"? — BRIAN0918 • 2006-07-06 00:12

Western Australia's Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) is indeed a good place to look, but a teachers' pack on the Jarrah Forests is not exactly authoritative. CALM's Florabase would be more appropriate as a reference. It has an entry for P. longifolia here (already in External Links section); it says "erect shrub or tree". Powell (1990), a CALM publication referenced in the article, also says "tall shrub or tree".

The most authoritative source would have to be the species entry in the Flora of Australia series. This is in the external links section but currently throwing a "Bad Gateway" error. Take it from me it says that P. longifolia is an erect shrub or tree. I had a quick look in Bentham (1870) and it says "a tall shrub or small tree".

My position is we already have ample authoritative references stating that P. longifolia is a tall shrub or tree. The teacher's pack reference is not authoritative, it provides nothing that is not already provided by the other references, and so is not needed. Moreover to the extent that it contradicts the other references it is not reliable and has to be assumed incorrect. Therefore I think it should be removed. Snottygobble 00:35, 6 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

this source Wheeler, Judy (2003). Common Trees of the South-West Forests. Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM). ISBN 0730969674 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum. the Author Judy Wheeler was(retired) a Botanist and Senior Research Scientist for CALM from 1981 to 2002. This book says "a tall shrub or small tree". I'd speculate that the teaching aid has been simplified to enable better understanding for school children, given your reference was developed from the same Government Department source this is more likely the case Gnangarra 01:16, 6 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]