Flora of Bolivia - Where do we stand?

Abstract

The botanical exploration of Bolivia during the last two centuries did not leave a botanical legacy in the country. Only towards the end of the 20th century Bolivia saw the start of the biology careers at its universities and the development of its own herbaria. Nowadays there are important herbaria in La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Sucre with collections ranging between 40,000 and 350,000 specimens. In 2014 a catalogue of the vascular flora of Bolivia was published under the auspices of the Missouri Botanical Garden, recording 15,345 species, of which 12,165 are native and 2,343 are endemic, while 694 are cultivated, 267 adventitious and 221 are naturalized. Endemic species of vascular plants add up to 2,343 species. The 286 families listed follow the APG III classification system. There are about 150 botanists in Bolivia interested in studying the country's rich flora. During a workshop organized in 2013 to promote a Flora of Bolivia, the participants established jointly a preliminary format for the taxonomic treatments. The Flora of Bolivia is planned to be an electronic, open access publication with international participation. The World Flora represents a challenge that must be tackled by circumscribing, verifying and recording all species known within our territory, and it is expected that it will have positive repercussions from and towards the ongoing Flora of Bolivia, in a similar way as the long running series of the Flora Neotropica has provided a wider picture that can be adapted and modified to fit our particular country.