Monographs, databases and biodiversity conservation

Abstract

The primary tasks of systematic botany are to explore, describe and classify the flora of the world, thus providing an efficient information storage and retrieval system for plants, plant products, and plant conservation. Work on regional Floras has been prioritized, but from both scientific and practical points of view it would be better to concentrate on monographic work. Inventories followed by monographic studies are urgently needed also to facilitate rational activities for biodiversity conservation. While the herbaria of the world are per se important databases, the use and networking of computers enormously facilitate stock-taking of the global plant resources for all purposes