Journal articles on the topic 'Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden (South Africa)'
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Boehi, Melanie. "Radical Stories in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden." Environmental Humanities 13, no. 1 (May 1, 2021): 66–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/22011919-8867208.
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Abstract When the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden was established in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1913, it was envisioned as a site that served white citizens. Kirstenbosch was presented as a landscape in which plants functioned as representatives of their wild habitats. The botanical garden’s curatorial practices silenced histories of colonial occupation, frontier violence, colonial agriculture, and slavery that had shaped the land on which it was built. Narratives that celebrated colonial histories were cultivated in monumental gardening. Throughout its existence, Kirstenbosch has centered Western epistemologies. Where Indigenous knowledge systems were featured, they were mediated through ethnobotany. While human stakeholders lacked commitment to transformation, emergent ecologies evolved that interrupted colonial narratives and Western epistemologies. Discussing histories of wild almond trees, hybrid plants, and cycads, the author suggests that the emergent ecologies around them introduced radical stories to Kirstenbosch. The emergent ecologies’ storytelling is radical because it works at the roots of plants and historical genealogies, and it roots different narratives—of ruination and new flourishing, diversity and local becomings, multispecies kinship and love—into Kirstenbosch. In doing so, the emergent ecologies introduce possibilities for reimagining the botanical garden as an institution of environmental governance from within its confines and its disciplines.
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Hitchcock, Anthony. "Biogeographical Principles in Horticulture." Sibbaldia: the International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, no. 17 (February 5, 2019): 101–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.24823/sibbaldia.2019.269.
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With more than 780 species, Erica is the largest genus in the Core Cape Subregion, once referred to as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), in South Africa. The redevelopment of the Erica Display Garden at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden to fulfil aesthetic, conservation and educational purposes is described. The author draws on decades of field work in the CFR to open a window for botanic garden visitors and schoolchildren who have not had the privilege of experiencing the unique flora of the CFR. An explanation for the extraordinary diversity of the CFR is explored.
The challenge of engaging with visitors and at the same time highlighting the diversity of ericas and fynbos while overcoming the difficulties of growing wild species out of their natural and niche habitats is explained. The most effective way to display South African ericas and fynbos is discussed. The use of phytogeographical themes is preferred as a suitable method to display diversity in botanic garden horticulture. Nine planting beds totalling 8,000 m2 were redeveloped to represent six distinct phytogeographic regions identified in Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (Manning & Goldblatt, 2012). Nineteen of the twenty largest families and genera of the Cape flora are also represented in these displays. Interpretation was created to provide information on the defining features of each region. The phytogeographic theme was used to emulate typical natural floristic features of each and to bring the concept of geographically driven plant diversity to the attention of the visiting public and students.
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Hitchcock, Anthony, and Anthony G. Rebelo. "The Restoration of Erica verticillata." Sibbaldia: the International Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, no. 15 (December 8, 2017): 39–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.24823/sibbaldia.2017.222.
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The Threatened Species Programme at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, is integrated to include both ex situ and in situ conservation activities. Plant conservation is driven by South Africa’s Strategy for Plant Conservation which was developed in response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
This case study examines the conservation of Erica verticillata (whorl heath), a flagship for threatened species at Kirstenbosch, and documents the integration of ex situ with in situ conservation at three areas on the Cape Flats. The whorl heath was thought to be extinct by 1950. Horticulturists have since rediscovered eight clones in botanic gardens worldwide, the Heather Society and commercial growers. Ex situ conservation in botanic garden collections and the Millennium Seed Bank has since allowed in situ conservation in the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation type. The process of restoring the whorl heath presented many challenges. Initially attempts were hampered by limited available knowledge on suitable niche habitats. Pioneering work carried out at Rondevlei Nature Reserve identified the suitable habitat and this was applied in subsequent in situ work at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area and at Tokai Park – the only natural areas remaining in or near this species’ historical distribution range. Successful re-establishment of this species depends upon its capacity to recruit after fire, which is an essential ecological process in the fynbos. Many clones have been in cultivation for a long time and are poor seed producers: seed production was first recorded at Rondevlei only after additional clones were planted together. Only one population (Rondevlei) to date has seen a fire and thus has recruited seedlings; however these are competing with vigorous companion plants.
The study continues and is currently exploring the role of herbivory in the restoration process. The key lesson learnt to date is the need to include sustainable management of the entire ecosystem in the restoration process and not limit it to single species. Success in restoring a species depends upon a healthy stand of the vegetation type in place, along with pollinators and other key fauna and other natural ecosystem processes. It is recommended that successful re- establishment of a species in fynbos requires the reintroduced population to survive three fire cycles.
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Van Jaarsveld, Ernst. "Welwitschia mirabilis and the 100-year old Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape town, South Africa." Cactus and Succulent Journal 85, no. 3 (May 2013): 96–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.2985/0007-9367-85.3.96.
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Giliomee, J. H. "Opogona scaphopisMeyrick (Lepidoptera: Tineidae: Hieroxestinae) Causing Serious Damage toGasteriaandHaworthiaat Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, South Africa." African Entomology 24, no. 1 (March 2016): 233–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.4001/003.024.0233.
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Oliver, Roger Clive, Muhali Olaide Jimoh, and Charles Petrus Laubscher. "Germination ecology of three Asteraceae annuals Arctotis hirsuta, Oncosiphon suffruticosum, and Cotula duckittiae in the winter-rainfall region of South Africa: A review." Open Agriculture 7, no. 1 (January 1, 2022): 656–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/opag-2022-0115.
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Abstract Asteraceae annuals from South Africa’s winter-rainfall region often exhibit poor germination, and it is a challenge to establish a garden display using fresh seeds from the wild. Arctotis hirsuta (Harv.) Beauvard is a popular ornamental, Oncosiphon suffruticosum (L. Bolus) K. Bremer & Humphries is important in traditional medicine, and Cotula duckittiae (L. Bolus) K. Bremer & Humphries has a vulnerable (VU) status on the red list of South African plants. C. duckittiae is teetering on the brink of extinction in a few localities on severely threatened ecosystems due to continued pressure on land for housing developments and invasive aliens. At present, there is no knowledge of O. suffruticosum being cultivated exclusively for its healing properties. The successful cultivation of this species may allow it to fulfil not only a more acute medicinal role in society but also in the economy to create precious job opportunities. The potential to develop or improve certain plant breeding lines of A. hirsuta commercially, besides just normal wild forms of these species at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, is huge. This, in addition to the ongoing pressure exerted on wild populations of C. duckittiae, warrants investigations into aspects of germination ecology of this VU species of the West Coast.
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Viljoen, Cherise Christina, Muhali Olaide Jimoh, and Charles Petrus Laubscher. "Studies of Vegetative Growth, Inflorescence Development and Eco-Dormancy Formation of Abscission Layers in Streptocarpus formosus (Gesneriaceae)." Horticulturae 7, no. 6 (May 21, 2021): 120. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7060120.
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Streptocarpus formosus (Hilliard & B.L. Burtt) T.J. Edwards is a flowering herbaceous perennial indigenous to South Africa and is part of the rosulate group of herbaceous acaulescent plants within the Gesneriaceae family. According to the National Assessment database for the Red List of South African Plants version 2020.1., the plant is listed as rare. The ornamental use of S. formosus has untapped commercial potential as a flowering indoor pot plant, an outdoor bedding plant for shade and as a cut flower for the vase, all of which are limited by a five-month eco-dormancy period during the late autumn and all through the cold season in the short-day winter months. Viable commercial production will require cultivation techniques that produce flowering plants all year round. This study investigated the effectiveness of applying root zone heating to S. formosus plants grown in deep water culture hydroponics during the eco-dormancy period in preventing abscission layer formation and in encouraging flowering and assessed the growth activity response of the plants. The experiment was conducted over eight weeks during the winter season in the greenhouse at Kirstenbosch Botanical garden in water reservoirs, each maintained at five different experimental temperature treatments (18, 22, 26—control, 30 and 34 °C) applied to 10 sample replicates. The results showed that the lowest hydroponic root zone temperature of 18 °C had the greatest effect on the vegetative growth of S. formosus, with the highest average increases in fresh weight (1078 g), root length (211 cm), overall leaf length (362 cm) and the number of newly leaves formed (177 = n), all noted as statistically significant when compared with the other water temperature treatments, which yielded negative results from reduced vegetative growth. Findings from the study also revealed that while all heated solutions significantly prevented the formation of abscission layers of S. formosus, they had a less significant effect on inflorescence formation, with only 18 °C having the greatest positive effect on flower development.
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Mokotjomela, Thabiso M., Sebataolo J. Rahlao, Loyd R. Vukeya, Christophe Baltzinger, Lindokuhle V. Mangane, Christopher K. Willis, and Thompson M. Mutshinyalo. "The Diversity of Alien Plant Species in South Africa’s National Botanical and Zoological Gardens." Diversity 15, no. 3 (March 10, 2023): 407. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d15030407.
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The management of biological invasions, which pose a growing threat to natural resources and human well-being, is critical for reducing associated negative impacts. As part of the process of developing a strategy for the management of biological invasions in the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI) gardens, we collated a list of alien plant species from 13 gardens as part of a situational analysis. We requested lists of alien plant species recorded in each of the SANBI’s gardens. A total of 380 records included 225 alien plant species belonging to 73 families. A significant number of species were intentionally introduced through horticultural trade as ornamentals (49%; n = 225), while 20.9% were consumed as either food or medicine by humans. Plant life forms included woody and herbaceous plants, graminoids, succulents and ferns. Herbaceous (42.7%; n = 225) and woody plants (3.8%) were the dominant life forms. The Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden had the highest number of alien species (88 species), followed by Kirstenbosch (61 species) and Pretoria (46 species) National Botanical Gardens, with herbaceous species constituting the largest number in all gardens (i.e., 47, 19, and 27 species, respectively). The number of species that we recorded that were listed in the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM: BA) (Act No. 10 of 2004): Alien and Invasive Species Regulations’ categories were not notably different from the number of unlisted species (58.2% vs. 42.8%). The number of species listed in the different categories varied significantly across the different gardens, with a significantly higher number of unlisted species and of Category 1b species in the Walter Sisulu, Kirstenbosch and Pretoria National Botanical Gardens than in other gardens. That a significantly larger number of alien species originated from South America points to the need to improve biosecurity controls on existing relations. The results of this study provided a baseline database to help comparison between successive surveys in future.
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Nzeku, Bongiwe, and Rodney Graeme Duffett. "The Use of Social Media as a Marketing Tool by Tourist Attractions: Influence on Cognitive, Affective and Behavioural Consumer Attitudes." April 2021, Volume 10(2) (April 30, 2021): 742–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.46222/ajhtl.19770720-130.
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Social media has an enormous influence on the manner in which people look for and distribute data, and select a tourist destination. Hence, research was undertaken to ascertain the role of social media as a communication and marketing tool for Cape Town tourist attractions (Cape Point, Groot Constantia Wine Estate, V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain Aerial Cable Way and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens) via the analysis of tourists’ cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudinal responses. The results revealed that tourists displayed positive cognitive/affective and affective/behavioural attitude associations towards social media usage by the Cape Town tourist attractions. Several demographic and usage characteristics resulted in significant positive attitudes regarding Cape Town tourist attraction social media sites, viz. South African and African tourists; mobile device access; new social media users; daily log-ons; Black, Indian and Coloured tourists; and tourists who used the local Rand currency. The findings could be used by Cape Town tourist attractions to improve their social media platforms, and thereby the effectiveness as a marketing tool. The study makes an original contribution since few tourism-related studies investigated the hierarchy of effects model in terms of social media and most previous research only considered usage and demographic characteristics as descriptive measures.
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Wood, Paul A., and Michael J. Samways. "Landscape element pattern and continuity of butterfly flight paths in an ecologically landscaped botanic garden, Natal, South Africa." Biological Conservation 58, no. 2 (1991): 149–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0006-3207(91)90117-r.
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RICARTE, ANTONIO, MARTIN HAUSER, SCOTT KINNEE, and Mª ÁNGELES MARCOS-GARCÍA. "A new Eumerus hoverfly (Diptera: Syrphidae) from Namibia and South Africa, with notes on similar species." Zootaxa 4890, no. 4 (December 4, 2020): 493–508. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4890.4.3.
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Within the pollinator family Syrphidae, Eumerus Meigen, 1822 is a diverse genus with over 70 species recorded in the Afrotropical Region. A new species is described here from Namibia and South Africa. Adults are small to medium size flies, with spur-like expansions in the metatarsomeres 2 and 3. DNA sequences of the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene were obtained from Namibian specimens. This is only the second Eumerus species documented from Namibia, where it was recorded from The National Botanic Garden, Windhoek. The new species is compared with similar species such as Eumerus vestitus Bezzi, 1912, for which a lectotype is designated. In addition, a new and preliminary morphological concept of the Eumerus obliquus group is proposed and a key to its African species is provided.
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SIRBU, Ioana-Minodora, Paulina ANASTASIU, Mihaela URZICEANU, and Tatiana Eugenia SESAN. "FIRST ASCERTAINABLE RECORD OF LUDWIGIA PEPLOIDES FROM ROMANIA." Contribuţii Botanice 56 (November 19, 2021): 13–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.24193/contrib.bot.56.2.
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Ludwigia peploides (Kunth) P.H.Raven - Floating primrose-willow - is native to wetlands of North, Central, and South America, and widely distributed across Africa, Australia, and Asia, and in Europe, where it is listed by EU Regulation no. 2016/1141 as an Invasive Alien Species (IAS) of Union concern. A photograph of the species from Romania taken in the Sai River Valley (Teleorman County) was published on the Facebook online platform in 2018. This first record, however, lacked further details on the observed specimen or any accompanying herbarium material that would ascertain its correct taxonomic assignation. By carrying out our own field surveys between October and November 2020 we hereby confirm the presence of the species Ludwigia peploides as a new addition to the Romanian alien flora. We identified many specimens occurring along the Sai River Valley, between Olteanca and Turnu Magurele localities. We further present preliminary data regarding the distribution, affected habitats, and population extent of Ludwigia peploides in the investigated area. Although several hypotheses can be proposed on the origin of this species in Romania, our current data cannot strongly support any of them. Plant specimens were deposited in the Herbarium collection of the D. Brandza Botanic Garden of the University of Bucharest (BUC).
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Shokoohi, E., and J. Eisenback. "Description of Anaplectus deconincki n. sp. from South Africa." Journal of Helminthology 97 (2023). http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022149x23000330.
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Abstract During a survey of soil nematodes in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, a population of plectid nematodes belonging to the genus Anaplectus was recovered and proved to be a species new to science. Anaplectus deconincki n. sp. is characterized by female body length (612–932 μm), b = 4.6–5.2, c = 12.8–18.0, c’ = 2.6–3.1, V = 51–54, and tail length (43–63 μm). Males are characterized by body length (779–956 μm), b = 4.8–5.6, c = 13.9–16.7, c’ = 2.2–2.5, spicule length 33–39 μm, gubernaculum length 10–12 μm, and tail length (56–65 μm). Discriminant analysis clearly separated A. deconincki n. sp. from the other related species of Aanaplectus. The phylogenetic analysis placed Anaplectus deconincki n. sp. in a clade with 1.00 posterior probability values with other Anaplectus. Partial sequences of the 18S and 28S regions of the ribosomal DNA gene were amplified for Anaplectus deconincki n. sp., and 18S rDNA showed 99% similarity with an unidentified Anaplectus (AJ966473) and A. porosus (MF622934) from Belgium. In addition, 28S rDNA showed a 93% similarity with A. porosus from Belgium (MF622938) and a 98% similarity with A. granulosus from Germany (MF325171). Measurements, illustrations, and light microscopy pictures for Anaplectus deconincki n. sp. are given.
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Lohonya, Krisztina, Laurence Livermore, Jacek Wajer, Robyn Crowther, and Elizabeth Devenish. "Digitisation of the Natural History Museum’s collection of Dalbergia, Pterocarpus and the subtribe Phaseolinae (Fabaceae, Faboideae)." Biodiversity Data Journal 10 (November 14, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/bdj.10.e94939.
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In 2018, the Natural History Museum (NHMUK, herbarium code: BM) undertook a pilot digitisation project together with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (project Lead) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to collectively digitise non-type herbarium material of the subtribe Phaseolinae and the genera Dalbergia L.f. and Pterocarpus Jacq. (rosewoods and padauk), all from the economically important family of legumes (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). These taxonomic groups were chosen to provide specimen data for two potential use cases: 1) to support the development of dry beans as a sustainable and resilient crop; 2) to aid conservation and sustainable use of rosewoods and padauk. Collectively, these use case studies support the aims of the UK’s Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)-allocated, Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding. We present the images and metadata for 11,222 NHMUK specimens. The metadata includes label transcription and georeferencing, along with summary data on geographic, taxonomic, collector and temporal coverage. We also provide timings and the methodology for our transcription and georeferencing protocols. Approximately 35% of specimens digitised were collected in ODA-listed countries, in tropical Africa, but also in South East Asia and South America.
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Jain, Vratika, Shreya Chaturvedi, Shahid Jamil, Rama Tyagi, Satyadev Arya, and Swati Madan. "Ashwagandha: botanic occurrence, conventional uses, and significance in heart, metabolic, renal and hepatic disorder." Nutrition & Food Science, July 29, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/nfs-01-2024-0030.
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Purpose This review paper delves into the comprehensive understanding of Ashwagandha, spanning its botanic occurrence, conventional applications, extraction techniques and pivotal role in addressing various disorders. Design/methodology/approach Introduction Ashwagandha, also known as Withania somnifera, is a remarkable botanical resource with a rich history of use in traditional medicine. Findings In botany, Withania somnifera thrives in diverse ecosystems, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. Its extensive distribution across regions, the Canary Islands, South Africa, the Middle East, Sri Lanka, India and China underscores its adaptability and resilience. The traditional uses of Ashwagandha in Ayurvedic and indigenous medicine systems have persisted for over 3,000 years. With over 6,000 plant species utilized historically, India, often regarded as the “botanical garden of the world,” has firmly established Ashwagandha as a cornerstone in traditional healing practices. Originality/value Extraction methods play a pivotal role in harnessing the therapeutic potential of Ashwagandha. Ultrasonic-assisted extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography are among the techniques employed to obtain the key bioactive compounds. Ashwagandha’s significance in modern medicine is underscored by its potential to address a spectrum of health issues. The multifaceted bioactivity of Ashwagandha is attributed to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, heart conditions, metabolic disorders, renal ailments, hepatic diseases and adaptogenic properties, making it a subject of increasing interest in contemporary medical research. This review synthesizes the assorted perspectives of Ashwagandha, from its botanical roots and conventional employments to its advanced extraction strategies and its intention to basic well-being challenges, advertising important bits of knowledge for analysts, specialists and healthcare experts alike.
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Dias da Silva, Ana Margarida, M. Teresa Girão da Cruz, Joana Cabral-Oliveira, Helena Freitas, and Antonio C. Gouveia. "Plant Letters: A citizen science project uncovering historical biodiversity data." Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3 (June 13, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.36153.
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The XIXth century saw an enormous accumulation of biological specimens coming to Europe from all over the world, which are now part of museums, herbaria and other natural history collections. For many centuries, the exchange of letters was the privileged means of circulating information and knowledge. At the University of Coimbra (UC), the Life Sciences Department safeguards almost 5000 letters and other documentation addressed to directors, gardeners and other collaborators of the Botanic Garden. These records of Portuguese botanical science and expeditions of plant discovery, collection and identification are held in thousands of handwritten letters, species lists and assorted notebooks, in more than five different languages. Historical repositories such as this archive, but also the biological and museum collections and objects that it documents, imply added responsibilities to the University of Coimbra, as the information contained within the documentation, pertains not only to a country (in this case Portugal), but also to its developing historical roles and actions. As a colonial power for many centuries, the records of Portuguese scientific activity and occupation strategies of overseas territories, in Africa, South America, Asia and the Pacific, are also documented, and its valuable data (e.g., historical biological records) is of crucial importance to these now independent countries. Received correspondence is a great resource for understanding the process of knowledge creation and circulation in the plant sciences, including botany and agriculture, as well as the scientific colonial practices and their implication for the amassing of biological collections at the UC. In order to uncover historical biodiversity data within this archival material, we have implemented Plant Letters (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/catedraunesco/plant-letters), a citizen science transcription project that seeks to uncover the stories within these historical archives, the tales of travelers and scientists, on the quest of recording of the world’s diversity, mostly in the Portuguese ex-colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. Using the collaborative platform Zooniverse (https://www.zooniverse.org), users are requested to engage with the archive and transcribe mostly handwritten letters in several languages, giving dimension to our continuous efforts of promoting open and widespread access to information. The project invites everyone to transcribe handwritten or typed letters received by the Botanic Garden between about 1870 and 1928, from more than 1100 correspondents from around the world. The main purpose of this project is to track plant species, locations and scientists in the correspondence received in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Botanic Garden of the University of Coimbra. To do so, Plant Letters seeks in users, both experts or simply curious, a source of participation in the construction of knowledge, making use of collective intelligence, in a lively exchange of information, experiences and knowledge. In transcribing the letters, we want to retrieve information that can include: inquiries and doubts about plant classification and taxonomy; historical plant species locations, distribution records and abundance; biological material circulation (plant and seed exchanges); track the path of herbarium and museum specimens in our collections; unravel networks of botanical knowledge. inquiries and doubts about plant classification and taxonomy; historical plant species locations, distribution records and abundance; biological material circulation (plant and seed exchanges); track the path of herbarium and museum specimens in our collections; unravel networks of botanical knowledge. Transcribing the information contained in these documents will allow us to: track plant specimens as they travelled from their native countries to the scientists who named them; to determine historical plant locations in parts of sub-Saharan Africa; to better understand the scientific processes of plant discovery, taxonomy and botany; and to collect information that gives context to biological specimens in museum objects and other natural history collections. All of these data, valuable to the present and future conservation of tropical flora, will be made available, bearing in mind the open science principles.
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Miller, Chuck, Walter Berendsohn, and William Ulate. "The World Flora Online: Summary and Status." Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 6 (August 24, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/biss.6.93898.
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The World Flora Online (WFO) project was initiated in 2012 in response to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation – "To create an online flora of all known plants by 2020" (CBD 2010, Wyse Jackson 2013). A WFO Consortium of 50 international institutions and growing has been formed (see Wyse Jackson and Miller (2015) for a historical overview). The World Flora Online Public Portal (www.worldfloraonline.org) was relaunched in July, 2022. It is populated with a taxonomic backbone of plant taxonomic data, which integrates the International Plant Name Index (IPNI), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, Govaerts et al. 2022), Tropicos, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV (A.P.G. 2016), Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (Schüttpelz 2016) and others supplemented, inter alia, by the Global Compositae Checklist and Solanaceae Source. The WFO taxonomic backbone aims at covering all “effectively published” (Turland 2018) plant names that are in use or found in taxonomic literature and to integrate them into a modern phylogeny-based system of classification (Borsch et al. 2020). To facilitate the ongoing curation of the WFO backbone, identifiers, called WFO-IDs, have been created for 1.4 million names, including both vascular and non-vascular plants. WFO IDs are also cross-referenced to IPNI and WCVP identifiers as well as to the name IDs used in the source databases. WFO is updating the taxonomic backbone by engagement of new plant Taxonomic Expert Networks (TENs) focused on selected plant groups (for an example see Korotkova, this symposium), thus contributing to a transparent and inclusive reorganisation of the taxonomic research community. WFO also includes by now over 600,000 “content” data items gathered from digital floras and monographs, and other sources like International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat assessments and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) Global Tree Assessment. Content data can be text descriptions, images, geographic distributions, identification keys, phylogenetic trees, as well as atomized trait data like threat status, lifeform or habitat of a taxon. Over 30 digital descriptive datasets have been received from sources such as Flora of Brazil, Flora of South Africa, Flora of China, Flora of North America, Flora of Thailand and many others. WFO aims at clearly showing the original sources to give credit to the authors, both for backbone and content data. Extensive work is required to match the names associated with the submitted descriptions to the names and WFO-IDs in the World Flora Online taxonomic backbone and then merging the descriptive data elements into the WFO Portal. Numerous techniques have been adopted and created to accomplish the data cleaning, standardization and transformation required before descriptive data can be integrated. Among the new tools created is a system called Rhakhis developed at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (Hyam et al. 2022). Rhakhis is used to manage the WFO taxonomic backbone data including ingestion, editing and export and includes APIs to access the versioned backbone data. This presentation will focus on the current state and plans for the future of the World Flora Online.