01
Layer 1
Bronze
The seed.
New in this layer
RAW SOURCE DATARaw, last-known state per source. Updated on every scrape; never deleted on absence alone.
About/The reference
One canonical record.
Built across the industry.
Plantaerium is a curated plant reference database from Realmdrop. We consolidate cultivar identity, attributes, and provenance into a clean, deduplicated record. We don't sell plants, hold inventory, or publish prices.
Scope
What we store.
What we don’t.
We store
- Botanical identity — genus, species, cultivar, patent, trade name, aliases
- Physical attributes — mature size, hardiness zones, bloom and foliage colors
- Growing conditions — light, soil moisture, growth habit
- Provenance — which sources contributed which fields
- Reference imagery — content-hashed, not URL-tracked
We don’t store
- PricesThey drift weekly and aren’t reliable as reference data.
- Inventory or stock countsThat belongs to suppliers who actually move plants.
- SKUs or per-supplier listings on the public siteThe public reference is by cultivar, not by SKU.
- Personal data on visitors or growersBrowsing the catalog should never require an account.
Why precision matters
“A canonical record isn’t a vote count. It’s a stand on what each cultivar actually is.”
Every field carries a source. Every disagreement carries a paper trail. The work isn’t storing more data — it’s deciding what counts.
Architecture
How a record
is built.
Every public-facing record passes through four layers. Each layer is conservative — supplier-side changes that conflict with your view never silently overwrite it.
02
Layer 2
Silver
The seedling.
- BRONZE
New in this layer
SYSTEM MERGECanonical record per cultivar. Field-level provenance preserved — you can see exactly which source contributed what.
03
Layer 3
Gold
The leaves.
- BRONZE
- SILVER
New in this layer
EDITORIAL LAYERSilver plus our editorial overrides for fields where supplier data conflicts or is incomplete. Every override is logged.
04
Layer 4
White
The flower.
- BRONZE
- SILVER
- GOLD
New in this layer
YOUR OVERRIDESGold plus per-tenant customizations — your private corrections layered on top of ours, visible only to your account.
Each layer builds on the last. You always see the most refined record your tier allows.
The thread
Tracing one cultivar through every source.
Workflow
Software merges.
People keep it honest.
A small curation team works the queue every day — reviewing high-stakes matches, opening overrides for the conflicts that matter, and pruning images that drift off-brief.
- 1
Match across sources
A trigram resolver scores supplier listings against the canonical entity index. High-confidence matches auto-link; the rest queue for review.
- 2
Consolidate to silver
Field-by-field merge with deterministic precedence (longest description wins; tightest hardiness range wins; etc.) plus full source attribution.
- 3
Override where it matters
A curator reviews each entity surfaced by the queue or QA reports; conflicts get a Gold override with a written reason.
Why this matters
“Every record names a living thing — bred by someone, grown by someone, remembered by someone.”
The catalog is built to be worthy of that.
0 cultivars0 genera13 suppliers
FAQ
Curation,
answered.
Questions specifiers and integrators ask the most.
How often is the catalog updated?
Each supplier is scraped on a per-source schedule (most weekly, some daily). Silver consolidation runs after every supplier finishes; Gold edits land instantly. The home page shows the latest update timestamp.
What happens when two suppliers disagree?
The silver consolidator picks deterministically per field — for example, the longest description wins, the tightest hardiness range wins. When the result is wrong, a curator opens a Gold override and the rule's reasoning is captured in our audit log.
Are trade names and cultivar codes resolved together?
Yes. "Tres Amigos® (Mincautri)" and the bare 'Mincautri' clone always merge into one canonical entity, with the trade name as the consumer-facing title.
Can I correct or contribute to a record?
Subscribers in our white tier can layer their own per-tenant overrides without affecting the public record. For cross-the-board corrections, drop us a note via the contact page — we treat well-supported corrections seriously.
Where do you source reference imagery from?
Each image is content-hashed at ingest, not URL-tracked. We license imagery from supplier catalogs that allow it; curators can pin or unpin images per cultivar to keep the gallery on-message.
I can't find a cultivar I need — can I request it?
Yes. Send us the cultivar name (plus any supplier or breeder reference you have) via the contact page and we'll add it to the curation queue. We prioritise requests from active subscribers, but the queue is open to everyone.
I'm a supplier — can I contribute my catalog to the index?
Yes — we actively welcome new sources. Get in touch and we'll walk you through the supplier onboarding flow (an exported CSV, an API feed, or a scrapeable catalog all work). Your data flows into bronze, merges into the canonical record, and stays attributed back to you in the provenance trail.
Where to next?
Browse it.
Or build with it.
Open the catalog, inspect the API surface, or talk to us about subscriber access.