IOPI Global Plant Checklist now on-line

[Karen Wilson]

     ***International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI)
     - the Global Plant Checklist***


     The provisional Global Plant Checklist of vascular plants is now
     on-line at http://iopi.csu.edu.au/iopi/.

     It is still at an early stage so please don't expect too much yet! So
     far it contains datasets contributed from four regions (Australia,
     Europe, North America north of Mexico, and Peru), plus two edited
     family datasets (those for Casuarinaceae and Magnoliaceae). Partly
     edited datasets for several other families are to follow shortly. The
     Czerepanov dataset covering the plants of the former USSR is another
     major floristic dataset that is currently being prepared for
     inclusion.

     Funding is still very limited so we will be walking rather than
     running for the near future. However, procedures will soon be in place
     for specialists in particular plant groups to participate in editing
     the existing data and adding other data.

     The IOPI Global Plant Checklist is a collaborative project amongst the
     botanists of the world and interested information scientists.
     Specialists from 27 institutions in 14 countries have contributed to
     get the Checklist this far.

     On behalf of IOPI,  I invite everyone to take a look, try it out, and
     send comments to me.

     Karen Wilson
     Convener of the IOPI Checklist Committee

     karen at rbgsyd.gov.au