Welcome to the HobbitHouse wood name database


WHAT IS IT?
This is a database of wood names (matched common names and botanical names) with a Windows software application sitting on top of the database. The application allows you to select pretty much any feature of a wood name such as all/part of the common name or all/part of the botanical name and it will then give you all associations in the database. So, for example, if you have heard of a common wood name that is unfamiliar to you and you would like to see if it also has another name that is more familiar to you, or you would like to know its botanical name, this application will do that. Also, if you would like to see the extent of variety of various kinds of woods (e.g. "how many common names include the word "oak?", or "how many Dalbergia species are included?"), this is a useful tool to have. It's free and I intend for it to stay free.

The database was compiled by accumulating every single wood name database I could find that was available in text form, downloading each of them, combining them, eliminating duplicates, and then spending hundreds of hours eliminating obvious errors. The biggest remaining issue, I believe, in addition to likely remainging errors, is the fact that there are TONS of obscure foreign names, often with single-letter spelling variants, that are utterly useless to Enlish speaking users. The problem is that I don't know WHICH of the names are useless and which might be useful, so I left them all in, excepting as I said, obvious errors. As I note in the "application credits" button, I have had some help in constructing the database and in doing the cleanup.

The application and the database are updated separately, with the database being updated more often than the application.

Latest application update: June 2021
Latest database update: June 2021
AMOUNT OF DATA
the data set contains: SAFE TO RUN
I can guarantee that the program is virus free and safe for your computer. I previously issued it as an installable application for Windows, but there were some privilege issues on some systems so I have dropped that and it is now available only in this version where you just unzip the files into a folder of your choice and run the app.

COMPATIBILITY
As far as I am aware, this should run on any version of windows but I have only actually tested the most recent version on Windows 10 since all of my computers now run that O.S. It will not run on Apple operating systems. If you have any issues, please let me know.

DATA ERRORS: If you do notice any errors or questionable entries in the data base and wish to make the effort to report them to me that would be a bonus for me and I would really appreciate it. The program has a facility to make that VERY easy to do (click on the button at the lower center that says "read/edit the notes file" and you'll see what I mean). Also, there is a button ("show the caveats on the underlying data") to click to let you see some systemic known errors so that you don't bother to report on them.

I am constantly fixing errors but there are, at the very least, many hundreds that I have not yet addressed and undoubtedly a great many more that I don't even know about.

SO WHAT DO I DO?
Just download the ZIP file, unZIP it into a folder of your choice and run the executable (_wood name db.exe).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
NOTE: if your Windows computer does not already have the Microsoft
DOT NET FRAMEWORK you'll be guided by Windows to download it

NOTES ON RUNNING THE APPLICATION:

It's probably a good idea to read the data caveats
(click on "show the data caveats")
otherwise a couple of things about the wood name presentation might seem odd