Taxonomic Sources

List Taxonomic Sources

curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic

import requests

url = "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic"

response = requests.get(url)

print(response.text)

const options = {method: 'GET'};

fetch('https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "tnrs",
      "name": "Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (WFO)",
      "description": "World Flora Online taxonomic authority",
      "authority_weight": 1,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 720
    }
  ],
  "total": 12
}

GET

sources

taxonomic

List Taxonomic Sources

curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic

import requests

url = "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic"

response = requests.get(url)

print(response.text)

const options = {method: 'GET'};

fetch('https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "tnrs",
      "name": "Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (WFO)",
      "description": "World Flora Online taxonomic authority",
      "authority_weight": 1,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 720
    }
  ],
  "total": 12
}

List all available taxonomic data sources used by the species validation system, including their authority weights and cache durations.

Overview

This endpoint returns metadata about the 12 taxonomic sources used by the /v1/verify/plant-names endpoint. Use it to understand which databases are queried, their relative authority in the consensus algorithm, and how long results are cached.

Request

curl https://api.superseeded.ai/v1/sources/taxonomic

No authentication or request body required.

Response

sources

object[]

Array of source metadata objects.

Show Source Object

string

Source identifier used in the sources filter parameter of /v1/verify/plant-names.

name

string

Human-readable source name.

description

string

Brief description of the source.

authority_weight

number

Weight (0.0-1.0) used in the consensus scoring algorithm. Higher values indicate more authoritative sources.

cache_ttl_hours

integer

How long results from this source are cached, in hours.

fallback_only

boolean

If true, this source is only queried when all other sources return no match. Only applies to Gemini AI.

total

integer

Total number of available sources.

Example Response

{
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "tnrs",
      "name": "Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (WFO)",
      "description": "World Flora Online taxonomic authority",
      "authority_weight": 1.0,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 720
    },
    {
      "id": "powo",
      "name": "Plants of the World Online",
      "description": "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew",
      "authority_weight": 0.95,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 72
    },
    {
      "id": "gbif",
      "name": "Global Biodiversity Information Facility",
      "description": "Largest biodiversity database",
      "authority_weight": 0.85,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 24
    },
    {
      "id": "ala",
      "name": "Atlas of Living Australia",
      "description": "Australian biodiversity data",
      "authority_weight": 0.8,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 72
    },
    {
      "id": "inaturalist",
      "name": "iNaturalist",
      "description": "Community science observations",
      "authority_weight": 0.7,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 48
    },
    {
      "id": "ip_australia",
      "name": "IP Australia Plant Breeders Rights",
      "description": "Australian plant variety protection",
      "authority_weight": 0.75,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 168
    },
    {
      "id": "upov",
      "name": "UPOV Plant Variety Database",
      "description": "International plant variety protection",
      "authority_weight": 0.75,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 168
    },
    {
      "id": "eol",
      "name": "Encyclopedia of Life",
      "description": "Comprehensive species information",
      "authority_weight": 0.6,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 72
    },
    {
      "id": "wikidata",
      "name": "Wikidata",
      "description": "Structured knowledge base",
      "authority_weight": 0.65,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 168
    },
    {
      "id": "wikispecies",
      "name": "WikiSpecies",
      "description": "Wikimedia species directory",
      "authority_weight": 0.6,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 168
    },
    {
      "id": "wikipedia",
      "name": "Wikipedia",
      "description": "General encyclopedia",
      "authority_weight": 0.55,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 168
    },
    {
      "id": "gemini",
      "name": "Google Gemini AI",
      "description": "AI-powered fallback for unresolvable names (requires API key)",
      "authority_weight": 0.5,
      "cache_ttl_hours": 240,
      "fallback_only": true
    }
  ],
  "total": 12
}

Source Authority Weights

Sources are ranked by authority in the consensus algorithm:

Source	Weight	Role
TNRS (WFO)	1.00	Taxonomic authority
POWO (Kew)	0.95	Botanical authority
GBIF	0.85	Biodiversity database
ALA	0.80	Regional authority (AU)
IP Australia	0.75	Cultivar authority
UPOV	0.75	Variety authority
iNaturalist	0.70	Observations
Wikidata	0.65	Structured data
WikiSpecies	0.60	Species directory
EOL	0.60	Encyclopedia
Wikipedia	0.55	General reference
Gemini AI	0.50	AI fallback (only)

Cache Strategy

Each source has a cache TTL tuned to its update frequency:

24 hours: GBIF (observation data updates frequently)
48 hours: iNaturalist (observation counts change regularly)
72 hours: POWO, ALA, EOL (taxonomy relatively stable)
7 days: IP Australia, UPOV, WikiSpecies, Wikidata, Wikipedia (data changes infrequently)
10 days: Gemini AI (AI-generated data, stable period)
30 days: TNRS/WFO (authoritative taxonomy, changes rarely)

Response

200 - application/json

List of taxonomic sources

sources

object[]

Show child attributes

total

integer

Total number of available sources

Verify Plant Names Route Discovery

API documentation

Endpoints

Overview

Request

Response

Example Response

Source Authority Weights

Cache Strategy

Response

​Overview

​Request

​Response

​Example Response

​Source Authority Weights

​Cache Strategy

Response

Overview

Request

Response

Example Response

Source Authority Weights

Cache Strategy