Method
The catalog organizes each plant around the syntropic vocabulary developed by Ernst Götsch. These are the key concepts you'll see on each plant page:
Strata
The vertical system is divided into five strata — emergent, high, medium, low, and ground cover — defined by the light requirement of the adult plant. A species may move between strata during its life cycle; the catalog records the primary stratum and any compatible secondary strata.
Succession (Götsch stages)
Every plant belongs to a successional stage: Placenta I (annuals up to 6 months), Placenta II (up to 2 years), Secondary I (up to 10 years), Secondary II (up to 100 years), Climax (over 100 years), Transitional. A healthy syntropic system has representatives of every stage planted simultaneously — we do not plant in phases.
Biomass class
Fertilizer plants (adubadoras) decompose quickly, are rich in nitrogen, and feed soil microbes (Inga, Gliricidia, Tithonia). Mulch plants (coberturas) decompose slowly and form persistent mulch (Banana, Eucalyptus, Mombaça grass). A healthy system combines both.
Pruning
Götsch calls pruning "the fuel of transformations." Instead of fertilizing and irrigating with inputs, we prune at the right moment: selective weeding, rejuvenation pruning, management pruning, harvest pruning. The catalog records each species' pruning tolerance and coppicing ability.
Brazilian biomes + Köppen
Every plant is tagged with the biomes where it occurs (Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pampa, Pantanal) and its relation to each (native, naturalized, suitable, invasive). Köppen classes let you filter by global climate.