The Permaculture Hyperlinked Comprehensive Encyclopedia (does it exist?)

Hi all,

I am completely new here and (hopefully) slowly starting a permaculture food forest. I have been wondering for a while if something like a hyperlinked comrehensive encyclopedia for permaculture plants, animals, soils, climates and more exists...

everywhere i look for information i am being told that 'a plant must serve many purposes in a permaculture design'... a book (or digital resource) which would list all (as many as humanly possible) plants, animals and other parts of the permaculture design would be great. A hyperlinked document would be even better, to investigate plants that do well together and start to integrate the design.

I imagine a book like this exists... does anybody have any good tips?

Thanks a lot!

I launched open-permaculture.com yesterday which I hope will get filled out over time to include a lot of information. Now that I thought of it I should add a section for that kind of information.


What I think you are looking for though is a plant guild or polyculture list. A few exist.

Midwest permaculture has a decent one: https://midwestpermaculture.com/80-favorite-plants-permaculture-guilds-midwest/

There have been a few attempts to make a global list across multiple regions but I can't remember what the sites were called. Most of the time your local permaculture farm/teacher/group will have some sort of list for your area.


Not sure about books though. Try the terms Plant guild or polyculture on amazon maybe, or look through the resources section here on the forums.

Hi and welcome to permies!  

I bet there are a many encyclopedia-like permaculture and plant databases floating around.  Here are just three:

https://permacultureplantdata.com/plant-database
https://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia
https://pfaf.org/user/default.aspx

That said, I can't personally verify the usefulness of the above sites though, as I have never used them.  If folks are telling you that 'a plant must serve many purposes in a permaculture design' then that probably stems from Mollison's big black book, the Permaculture Designers' Manual.  He writes the following...

Mollison, in Chapter 3, METHODS OF DESIGN on page 55. wrote:The Basic Energy-Conserving Rules
Every element (plant, animal or structure) must be placed so that it serves at least two or more functions.
Every function (e.g. water collection, fire protection) is served in two or more ways.

That rule, we see, is about conserving energy.  But it's also helpful for promoting resilience, space savings, and cost savings.

Now, the context of the section Mollison wrote is about zones and sectors, which are two awesome design concepts which everyone enthused about permaculture can hold near and dear to their heart and homestead.  So the rule is not just about the plant itself, what the plant can do -- whether it's medicinal, Nitrogen-fixing, mulch producing, useful for timber or fuel wood, fruit or nut bearing, pollinator friendly, shade, coppice/pollard, cash crops, dynamic accumulator, etc. -- but it's about patterning.

All that is to say, you may find it is better to have just a single book of 100 useful plants local to your climate, that you can source and use, than a world-wide database at your fingertips.   It's not just knowing about plants, but actually using them, by placing the right plants in the right relationship to other elements, to meet your (and other living things') needs.

Keep the questions coming!

P.s. When you get a chance be sure to check out "how permies works".

Edit to add: If you find yourself in a Temperate climate, looking for useful plants, be sure to check out Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier's Edible Forest Gardens.  It's a two volume set, and the first has 100 recommended species for forest gardens, and the second is chock full of information about useful plants.  https://www.edibleforestgardens.com/ (Amazon link)

Temperate Climate Permaculture has put together a wonderful list of plants here.

For a website for plants this might work:

https://permies.com/t/59966/Plants-Future-PFAF

The best all-around book I use is "The Reader's Digest North American Wildlife".

This book covers both plants and animals and has a guide that explains how to identify plants.

for permaculture, I would second George's suggestion of " Mollison's big black book, the Permaculture Designers' Manual."

wow, Thank you all for your quick responses! i am gonna check out all of it

I am living in Guadalajara, Mexico (in between temperate and sub-tropical i think). Thinking about Chapala for a more permanent Food forest kind of approach. But i also have plans in the Netherlands (i am from there).
Any specific suggestions for these areas are always welcome!

Teun, welcome to Permies! You're in an excellent forum for learning about food forests and permaculture.

Some of the forums you might want to explore are our:
    Forest Garden forum
    Perenial Vegetables forum

And to connect with folks in a specific region of the globe, check out our Regional Permaculture Forum.

Permies tend to be a very friendly and helpful bunch, and we look forward to your questions and learning about your ideas, projects, and experiments.

You might be able to find some of the features you're looking for on Permapeople.org, at least for the plants portion. There are lists of companion plants, and in-depth plant profiles that detail a plant's requirements.
It also supports custom lists, which many people use to show off their guild designs.