the use of the “calypso” system for the registration of the botanical gardens’ and herbaria’s collection funds

«Calypso» is a program intended for the creation of the databases of botanical collections kept in botanical gardens and herbaria. At the present moment «Calypso» (versions from 4.0 to 4.53) is used at about 30 botanical gardens of Russia and the Ukraine, besides our garden. The program uses the international transfer format (ITF) for the botanical gardens’ registration. The «Calypso» base can be separated and work of several computers, and the parts easily unite afterwards. «Calypso» reads text files, i.e. it allows transmitting from the first step of the collection registration — a plant list — to the entire database. The program works in continuity. All the new generations come from previous «Calypso» versions and use their databases. «Calypso» is available by the Internet: http://hortus.karelia.ru/com/soft.htm . In «Calypso» various methods of taxa’s and samples’ sorting and searching are realized. The system of checking of the databases’ logical integrity is elaborated. The 4.53 version uses 7 different output forms. Recommendations for users: IBM PC or higher. Operation memory 8 Mb, better 16 or more. HDD space — from 10 Mb or more. The videocard must have the resolution 640x480, better 600x800 for the normal work conditions with the image. Operation system: Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME.