The Trefle Botanical API is now open source

based2 · on Sept 13, 2020

https://trefle.io/about#pricing Trefle is currently in beta and still learning how it can be most helpful.

dosanto_3 · on Sept 13, 2020

is the raw API data accessible ?

Johnyma22 · on Sept 13, 2020

This: https://github.com/treflehq/trefle-api/blob/master/db/botani... ?

iudqnolq · on Sept 13, 2020

That's tiny. There are around 390,000 plants in the world. That file contains more than just plants, and has less than 2,000 entries.

1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36230858

MattBlissett · on Sept 13, 2020

The API example[1] gives several sources: USDA.gov, CATMINAT, PlantNet, GBIF, RBG Kew.

There might be other sources, but I don't know about all of these in detail, so I'm not sure. Several of those sources have their own APIs, I think this service's offering is joining everything together.

[1] https://docs.trefle.io/reference

mellosouls · on Sept 13, 2020

According to the blurb they have 1 million indexed.

MattBlissett · on Sept 13, 2020

There are around a million names for plants, but due to changing scientific hypotheses, limitations of science and communication centuries ago, new technologies (DNA sequencing etc) and so on, over 600,000 of those names are synonyms for other plants.

I was going to give the synonyms for Solanum tuberosum L., the potato, but it has tens (maybe hundreds) of them. Look at the bottom of the infobox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato

Cyphase · on Sept 13, 2020

There are 359 synonyms listed in the infobox.