Methodology
How we verify each species
This catalogue is not a list of pretty names. Every species is checked against authoritative botanical databases before publication, and every record closes with the sources behind it.
01
From nursery name to accepted name
We start from the common name used here and find its accepted scientific name in POWO, validated against World Flora Online. If the nursery name is ambiguous, the species is not published: it goes into verification.
02
Origin, not commercial provenance
The native or endemic badge comes from the native distribution recorded in POWO and the status in CONABIO. Non-native species are not labelled as introduced: their region of origin is mentioned as a neutral fact inside the record.
03
Maya name
Where it exists, it is taken from CICY and Enciclovida. It is neither invented nor translated: with no record, the entry carries no Maya name.
04
Care and toxicity
Light, watering, soil, size and propagation are checked against Missouri Botanical Garden and RHS, adjusted to Tulum's limestone climate. When a species is toxic, the warning goes before the description, not hidden at the end.
05
Medicinal uses
Only those documented in sources such as UNAM's Medicina Tradicional Mexicana are recorded. They are presented as cited cultural knowledge, never as medical advice.
06
Legal protection
Species listed in NOM-059-SEMARNAT or in the CITES appendices carry their own notice. Knowing a plant is protected changes how it is bought.
The nine sources
- POWO — Plants of the World Online (Kew)
Accepted name, authorship, family and native distribution. It is the basis of the origin status.
- World Flora Online
Validation of the accepted name and its synonyms.
- GBIF
Occurrence records and actual distribution of the species.
- CONABIO — Enciclovida
Status in Mexico, common names and names in Indigenous languages.
- CICY — Flora de la Península de Yucatán
Regional reference for Yucatecan flora and Maya names.
- Missouri Botanical Garden — Plant Finder
Care and toxicity.
- RHS — Royal Horticultural Society
Care and cultivars.
- Medicina Tradicional Mexicana — UNAM
Documented medicinal uses.
- NOM-059-SEMARNAT · CITES
Legal protection status of species at risk.
Two rules that do not bend
A record without verified bibliography is not published. No exceptions.
A species whose identity is unconfirmed is not published, even if the plant is in the nursery. It is flagged and waits for a photograph.