Type of site | Encyclopedia |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Created by | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden |
URL | www |
Launched | December 2010 |
Current status | Inactive since 2013 (version 1.1), superseded by World Flora Online |
The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. [1] It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species over time, and was produced in response to Target 1 of the 2002–2010 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSP C), to produce "An online flora of all known plants". It has not been updated since 2013, and has been superseded by World Flora Online. [2] [3]
In October 2012, the follow-up project World Flora Online was launched with the aim to publish an online flora of all known plants by 2020. [4] This is a project of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, with the aim of halting the loss of plant species worldwide by 2020. It is developed by a collaborative group of institutions around the world response to the 2011-2020 GSPC's updated Target 1. This aims to achieve an online Flora of all known plants by 2020. [2] It was conceived in 2012 by an initial group of four institutions; the Missouri Botanical Garden, the New York Botanical Garden, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [5]
There is a complementary project called the International Plant Names Index, in which Kew is also involved. The IPNI aims to provide details of publication and does not aim to determine which are accepted species names. Newly published names are automatically added from IPNI to the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, a database which underlies the Plant List.
The Plant List has 1,064,035 scientific plant names of species rank, [6] of which 350,699 are accepted species names, belonging to 642 plant families and 17,020 plant genera. [7] The Plant List accepts approximately 350,699 unique species, with 470,624 synonyms for those species, which suggests that many species have been referred to under more than one name. As of 2014 [update] , The Plant List has determined that another 243,000 names are "unresolved", meaning that botanists have so far been unable to determine whether they are a separate species or a duplication of the 350,699 unique species.
When The Plant List was launched in 2010 (the International Year of Biodiversity), it attracted media attention for its comprehensive approach. Fox News highlighted the number of synonyms encountered, suggesting that this reflected a "surprising lack" of biodiversity on earth." [8] The Plant List also attracted attention for building on the work of English naturalist Charles Darwin, who started a plant list called the Index Kewensis (IK) in the 1880s. Kew has added an average of 6,000 species every year since the IK was first published with 400,000 names of species. [8] However, the IK (which by 1913 avoided making taxonomic judgement in its citations) is currently included in the IPNI rather than the Plant List. [9]
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett.
Trillium erectum, the red trillium, also known as wake robin, purple trillium, bethroot, or stinking benjamin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. The plant takes its common name "wake robin" by analogy with the European robin, which has a red breast heralding spring. Likewise Trillium erectum is a spring ephemeral plant whose life-cycle is synchronized with that of the forests in which it lives. It is native to the eastern United States and eastern Canada from northern Georgia to Quebec and New Brunswick.
The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It includes basic bibliographical details associated with the names. Its goals include eliminating the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names.
Hepatica is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America. Some botanists include Hepatica within a wider interpretation of Anemone.
The 1893 Index Kewensis (IK), maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a publication that aims to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and genera. It later came to include names of taxonomic families and ranks below that of species.
Index Fungorum is an international project to index all formal names in the fungus kingdom. As of 2015 the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, but is introduced in North America and elsewhere. Other common names include cow parsnip or eltrot. The flowers provide a great deal of nectar for pollinators.
Tiarella cordifolia, the heart-leaved foamflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The specific name cordifolia means "with heart-shaped leaves", a characteristic shared by all taxa of Tiarella in eastern North America. It is also referred to as Allegheny foamflower, false miterwort, and coolwort.
Tiarella, the foamflowers, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae. The generic name Tiarella means "little turban", which suggests the shape of the seed capsules. Worldwide there are seven species, one each in eastern Asia and western North America, plus five species in eastern North America. As of October 2022, the taxonomy of Tiarella in eastern North America is in flux.
Tiarella trifoliata, the three-leaf foamflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The specific name trifoliata means "having three leaflets", a characteristic of two of the three recognized varieties. Also known as the laceflower or sugar-scoop, the species is found in shaded, moist woods in western North America.
Arabidopsis suecica, synonyms including Hylandra suecica, is a species of cruciferous plants. It is native to Sweden, Finland, and parts of European Russia, and has been introduced into neighbouring regions. It was originally described by Elias Magnus Fries in 1846 as a subspecies of Arabis thaliana and raised to a full species by Johan Petter Norrlin in 1878. In 1961, it was moved to its own genus Hylandra by Áskell Löve. As of March 2024 the move was not accepted by Plants of the World Online, and Hylandra is considered a synonym of Arabidopsis.
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae). Commonly known as calico aster, starved aster, and white woodland aster, it is native to eastern and central North America. It is a perennial and herbaceous plant that may reach heights up to 120 centimeters and widths up to 30 centimeters.
Acmispon dendroideus, synonym Syrmatium veatchii, is a species of legume native to California. It is known by the common name island broom. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it grows on coastal bluffs and cliffs. It is a spreading perennial herb or erect shrub approaching 2 meters in height. It is hairless to hairy and gray-green in color. The branches lined with leaves each made up of a few oval leaflike leaflets up to 1.5 centimeters long each. The inflorescence bears up to 10 yellow pealike flowers, each roughly a centimeter long and fading red as they age.
Pouzolzia australis, synonyms including Boehmeria australis and Boehmeria calophleba, is a species of large shrub or small tree in the plant family Urticaceae. It is endemic to small islands belonging to Australia and New Zealand – Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and the Kermadec Islands. The population on Norfolk island, sometimes treated as a distinct subspecies, is critically endangered. In the Kermadec Islands, it was described in 2018 as "threatened – nationally endangered".
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families was an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plant families." Maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, it was available online, allowing searches for the names of families, genera and species, as well as the ability to create checklists.
Morus australis, also called Korean mulberry and Chinese mulberry, is a flowering plant species found in East and Southeast Asia.
Arisaema quinatum is a species of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae. It is a member of the Arisaema triphyllum complex, a group of closely related taxa in eastern North America. The specific name quinatum means "divided into five lobes", a reference to its characteristic leaves. It is commonly known as the southern Jack-in-the-pulpit but some refer to it as Preacher John.
World Flora Online is an Internet-based compendium of the world's plant species.
Elaeocarpus stipularis is a tree in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found from the Aru Islands, eastern Indonesia, to Philippines, and through Mainland Southeast Asia to Odisha, India. It has edible fruit, its wood is used and some medical uses are ascribed to it.