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Published · 1.0.0

TLA-VIS — plant visualisation grammar

TLA-VIS

open plant visualisation grammar

CC BY 4.0 — Open visualisation grammar; attribution required.

TLA-185 records what is cited. TLA-VIS names how a plant reads.

TLA-185 is the records and disclosure spine (field registry). TLA-VIS is the visualisation grammar: habit, foliage, lamina, surface, reproductive structure, condition, temporal state, and provenance. It does not replace TLA-185, and it is not a draft orbit.

330 terms · 8 modules · licence CC BY 4.0 · trademark retained for the name and conformance mark

Download vocabulary JSON Specification (markdown) TLA-185 registry

What it is

A controlled vocabulary that maps botanical form and individual condition to renderable parameters. Plant Ontology describes anatomy for genomics. glTF and USD carry a mesh. Nothing between them names a phyllode, a bottlebrush, or a stag-headed crown. TLA-VIS is that layer.

The term list is generated from the live plant engine so the document cannot drift from the renderer. Definitions for each term are the remaining botanical work. A name with no definition is an index entry, not a finished standard.

Licence

Vocabulary and specification are published under CC BY 4.0: attribution required; commercial implementation and derivative profiles are permitted. The “TLA-VIS” name and conformance mark stay with the steward. Curated species records, meshes, stills, and the Archive engine are separately licensed and are not covered by this grant.

TLA-185 remains CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Cite it freely; commercial use of that records grammar still needs an Archive licence. TLA-185 is authored by Mark Norlan Laririt, founder of The Landscape Archive. The two instruments are siblings with different jobs, so they carry different licences on purpose.

Modules

  1. Habit & architecture 33 terms

    How the plant supports itself and distributes its branches.

    Growth form · Crown shape · Trunk habit · Branching gradient · Phyllotaxis · Branch insertion

  2. Foliage assembly 150 terms

    How organs are seated on the shoot, and which organ type is applied.

    Leaf template · Twig cluster · Leaf type · Leaf posture · Foliage render mode · Frond type

  3. Lamina morphology 77 terms

    Botanical description of the blade, corresponding to flora descriptions.

    Lamina outline class · Margin · Apex form · Base form · Phyllotaxis · Attachment · Orientation · Blade complexity · Phenology · Venation architecture · Surface luster

  4. Surface & material 14 terms

    Surface response of bark and leaf to incident light.

    Bark texture / profile · Leaf material class

  5. Reproductive structure 16 terms

    Flower and fruit organs, and their arrangement on the shoot.

    Bloom type · Inflorescence arrangement

  6. Condition & state 26 terms

    The state of this individual. Scenario grammar: a condition is usually modelled, not asserted of the taxon.

    Water & vigour · Decline & senescence · Wound taxonomy · Plant response

  7. Temporal state 8 terms

    Seasonal position and life-history stage. Neither is a condition.

    Season · Age stage

  8. Provenance & honesty 6 terms

    The evidentiary basis of each term. Required: a term with no basis is not conformant.

    Condition basis · Trait provenance

Honesty

  • A term with no provenance basis is not conformant.
  • Condition terms are modelled scenarios unless the basis is observed.
  • Implementations must not invent a term to fill a gap.
  • A growth form that cannot express a declared term must omit it; applying a stag-headed crown to a grass is non-conformant.