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User:Plantdrew/Vital

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Biggest families by species

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  • Counts of 30 largest families pulled some time ago from [1], but not currently available.
Rubiaceae is the only one in top 10 not Vital listed, (and one of 2 in top 14, with Cyperaceae). After #14 (Ericaceae), of these 30, only Rosaceae, Campanulaceae and Arecaceae are listed. Some smaller families (and arguably less vital) are also on the list. I'd add Rubiaceae, Apiaceae and Brassicaceae (with A&B added, all but Guttiferae of the 8 classical families are listed), with grounds beyond species count alone. Then looking at remove some families not in top 30 (e.g. Ulmaceae, Primulaceae)
I don't think number of species by itself is a good enough argument for importance, but since Rubiaceae contains some notable species that otherwise wouldn't be represented on the list, it could be worth adding. Cobblet (talk)
Yes, species count shouldn't be sole criteria. Just a possible useful guideline. Plantdrew (talk)

Other families on vital list not in top 30. Some of these would be good to remove:

Candidates to add to vital article list (bold entries are top candidates)

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Extinction and/or Endangered species

For production statistics (which I don't have time to check right now) FAOSTAT is the best source I know Cobblet (talk). That's where I was planning to check.Plantdrew (talk)

Trees

* Maple Cobblet (talk) * Willow Cobblet (talk) Good candidates, but doesn't help with northern temperate bias. But could swap these in with hornbeam and hazel out (we've got hazelnut, so hazel doesn't seem worth keeping). Plantdrew (talk)

Agree, and we've also got both pine and pine nut Cobblet (talk)
Ornamentals, etc.

* Ivy Cobblet (talk)

* Is kelp not a plant anymore? Probably worth including anyway though Cobblet (talk) * Cactus ought to be vital Cobblet (talk) 18:42, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Kelp isn't a plant, but I agree that it would be a good candidate. Plantdrew (talk)
Non food crops

*Jute (one of 3 most important fiber plants; cotton already listed, flax nominated)

  • Alfalfa important forage crop; maybe just include forage or fodder in Agriculture list?
  • Clover another forage, also very common weed, some symbolic importance
Veggies and seeds

*Eggplant (already nominated)

Fruits
Oil crops

Going off my gut instinct with bold entries. Would be good to check production statistics *Oil palm *Olive *Rapeseed

*Sesame

Pulses

Not sure about relative importance of non-bold entries. Check production stats.

*Chickpea

Herbs/spices

*Clove I'd prioritize this because of the spice trade Cobblet (talk)

*Nutmeg in the same boat as clove Cobblet (talk)

*Vanilla Asian spices? Asafoetida, Fenugreek, Lemon grass, Sichuan pepper? *Ginseng for sure, if we're also nominating vanilla Cobblet (talk) Ginseng isn't really a spice, more of a medicinal (though that distinction can be a little blurry). We could include a few more medicinals though and ginseng is a good one.Plantdrew (talk) 04:27, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Articles on plants with products already listed as vital (except rice, these products are listed elsewhere)

***Sugarcane is a must add. Among the top ten produced and valuable crops in the world according to FAOSTAT. It could fit in even at Level 3 comparing it to the other crops there. Gizza (t)(c)

Highly viewed articles from Wikipedia:WikiProject Plants/Popular pages

*Seaweed (not really a plant, but probably vital)

Except Aloe vera and seaweed, I'm not very strongly inclined to add any of these. Good list of possibly vital drugs though (both recreational/medicinal).

Removal candidates (bold entries are top candidates)

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Fruits
Seeds
Leaf veggies
Root veggies
Other veggies and spices