The Flora brasiliensis Digital Library Initiative

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The Flora brasiliensis Digital Library Initiative

• George J. Shepherd (UNICAMP)
• Dora A. Lange Canhos (CRIA)

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Brazil and its flora

• Brazil has the single largest Angiosperm flora in
  the world
• 35-70,000 species
• The only complete Flora is the Flora
  brasiliensis

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The Flora brasiliensis

• Produced in Germany 1840-1906
• Editors C.F.P. von Martius, A.W. Eichler I.
  Urban
• 65 specialists
• 15 Volumes in 40 parts (Folio)
• describes 22,767 Brazilian species (in Latin)
  about 5,000 new to science
• 3800 lithographs
• Still actively used for plant identification
• Useful outside Brazil

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Current Floristic projects in Brazil

• Flora brasilica (Hoehne)
• The Brazilian Botanical Society initiatives
• State-level Floras
• Other Flora projects

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The Flora brasiliensis in digital form

• Participants
• Paul E. Berry - Univ. of Wisconsin (Madison)
• M.C.E. Amaral, V. Bittrich G.J. Shepherd
  (UNICAMP)
• D.A.L. Canhos V.Canhos (CRIA)

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The role of the Flora brasiliensis today

• Flora brasiliensis is still a fundamental
  reference for floristic studies in South America
• It contains the protologues of a large number of
  species (ca. 5000)
• The illustrations are still immensely useful
• It can serve as the basis for the construction of
  checklists and other floristic works for Brazil
  and neighbouring countries

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Problems in the use of the Flora brasiliensis

• Physical size, cost and rarity
• Outdated nomenclature
• Now very incomplete

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Main aims

• Develop a pilot web page to show possible formats
  for a digital Flora brasiliensis
• Evaluate costs and techniques for a full-scale
  version
• Evaluate the types of information to be included
• Explore the possibilities of using Flora
  brasiliensis as the basis for regional and
  national checklists and Flora projects

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Overall Goal Develop an Integrated Information
System of the Knowledge Base