Why plants need an identity

Berzelia stokoei, one of the 3% of plants in South Africa that are found nowhere else in the world.

Plant experts in South Africa have a challenging deadline to meet: gather everything that’s known about the country’s 21 000 indigenous plant species into a formal online record by 2020. Fortunately they are well on their way.

It’s not just an academic exercise; it’s to help preserve the world’s biological diversity. The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) – also helped in this effort by volunteers – has an important contribution to make as a member of the World Flora Online (WFO) Consortium. The 41-member group is creating a central record of the world’s plants by 2020. This list, known as a Flora, is a description of all species and where they are found.

The online Flora project addresses three problems that stand in the way of plant species conservation. One is that some plants have not yet been scientifically named. Without a name, they can’t be part of a conservation plan. The second problem is that names can change and multiply, creating confusion for researchers and managers. Thirdly, there is no single collection of information about all the world’s plants.