Table 5 Comparison of error rates in the studied sources
From: Plant identification credibility in ethnobotany: a closer look at Polish ethnographic studies
Type of study | Literature | Voucher specimens |
|---|---|---|
Number of publications/herbariums | 45 | 4 |
No. of use-reports/specimens | 1983 | 459 |
No. of errors detected | 46 | 46 |
Average rate of mistakes per publication/source | 6.2 | 9.2 |
Percentage of errors detected | 2.3 | 10.0 |
Types of errors: | Number of taxa (Percentage given in parentheses) | |
wrong genus | 22 (48%) | 11 (24%) |
wrong species within the same genus | 7 (15%) | 29 (63%) |
more species from the same genus are actually used in the area | 16 (35%) | - |
the identification is too detailed (the voucher specimen is in bad condition - it should have been identified only to the genus level) | - | 5 (11%) |