The Cycad Society

I know what you’re thinking—cycad? What in the world is a cycad? Well, although you may not know the name of this group of plants, you’ve probably seen them before. Often mistaken for palms or ferns, these plants have short trunks and are crowned with a cluster of leaves that look like, well, palm or fern leaves. More than half of the cycad species also happen to be threatened or endangered. Enter The Cycad Society, which promotes education and scientific research with the aim of conservation. The society’s website offers visitors a photo gallery, a list of links to other cycad websites, and a number of articles related to cycad education, research, and conservation. Additionally—and I doubt many websites can boast this—there is a cycad poem entitled, “I Am a Cycad.” (Now you’re curious, aren’t you?)

www.cycad.org

Botany Home Page

By its own description the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a "broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources." Towards this end, three of the topics covered on the site (botany, genetic biodiversity, and fisheries/aquatic resources) are grist for this month's Best of the Web mill. Each of the main site's topic areas provides access to a hierarchically arranged set of subtopics. The Botany page has an excellent set of listings on everything from botanical history and paleobotany to economic botany, forestry, and gardening. The site explodes with useful references and, to top it off, they are VERY easy to find. A no brainer to recommend—go check it out.

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt