World Flora Online

World Flora Online is the international initiative to achieve Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and provides a global overview of the diversity of plant species. It is the essential tool for conservation planners, policymakers and practitioners at all levels. The WFO is an open-access, Web-based compendium of the world’s plant species. It is a collaborative, international project, building upon existing knowledge and published Floras, checklists and revisions but will also require the collection and generation of new information on poorly know plant groups and plants in unexplored regions. The development of the WFO project has been an exemplary global botanical community voluntary effort. Unlike many major international projects, this has not been supported by any significant independent funding provided for the project. Nevertheless, individual members of the WFO Consortium, now numbering more than 51 institutions and organizations, have contributed substantial in-kind and financial resources to support the project.