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| == How many useful plants in the world? == | | == How many useful plants in the world? == |
| As a gross estimate, there are 7-8.000 crops (cultivated species), and the total number of useful species may be more than 30.000. | | As a gross estimate, there are 7-8,000 crops (cultivated species), and the total number of useful species may be more than 34,000. |
| In fact, it is quite impossible to give a precise and exhaustive list of useful plants, because: | | In fact, it is quite impossible to give a precise and exhaustive list of useful plants, because: |
| * explicit or implicit criteria vary from one source to the other; | | * explicit or implicit criteria vary from one source to the other; |
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| == Global inventories on Internet == | | == Global inventories on Internet == |
| === [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl?language=en GRIN] === | | === [https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysimple.aspx GRIN Global] === |
| This is the most complete base, constituting the 'taxonomic core' of the information system of the United States on genetic resources, and including 26 462 genera and 89 533 species. Given its purpose, all the relative species susceptible to be used as genetic resources are included, as well as ornamentals and timbers. Moreover, species considered as noxious weeds, rare and threatened species, and species included in the annexes of the CITES Convention are also included. | | This is the most complete base, constituting the 'taxonomic core' of the information system of the United States on genetic resources, and including 26 462 genera and 89 533 species. Given its purpose, all the relative species susceptible to be used as genetic resources are included, as well as ornamentals and timbers. Moreover, species considered as noxious weeds, rare and threatened species, and species included in the annexes of the CITES Convention are also included. GRIN has now developed as a reference list for all gene banks in the world. |
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| === [http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:650875337259226 Mansfeld] === | | === [http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:650875337259226 Mansfeld] === |
| Electronic version of the 2001 book. | | Electronic version of the 2001 book. Unfortunately, no scientist has been available to update the names since then, and it is slowly becoming obsolete. But it is still interesting for old data. |
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| === [http://waynesword.palomar.edu/econpls.htm Wayne's Word] === | | === [http://waynesword.palomar.edu/econpls.htm Wayne's Word] === |
| It is not exactly an inventory, but this site contains resources on a great many plant species. Created by Wayne P. Armstrong (San Marcos, Califormia), it gives many fascinating and scientifically accurate data about useful plants, with many good photographs. The link given is a portal arranged according to the alphabetical order of botanical families, with internal links to all particular pages. | | It is not exactly an inventory, but this site contains resources on a great many plant species. Created by Wayne P. Armstrong (San Marcos, Califormia), it gives many fascinating and scientifically accurate data about useful plants, with many good photographs. The link given is a portal arranged according to the alphabetical order of botanical families, with internal links to all particular pages. |
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| | == Other inventories == |
| [[National or regional inventories and websites about useful plants]] | | [[National or regional inventories and websites about useful plants]] |
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| == Inventories by plant family ==
| | [[Inventories and websites by plant family]] |
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| This list gives sites dedicated to a particular family or genus. Genera are shown under the family name (as adopted by APG III). Most sites are not restricted to uses, but deal with useful plants, or include data of interest for ethnobotanists, such as common names or uses.
| | Inventories by use group |
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| The list is only indicative of what can be offered on the Internet. Feel free to add any scientific site you know, with comments.
| | They are listed in the page of the use group concerned (e.g., vegetables, timbers...) |
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| === ''Amaryllidaceae'' ===
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| [http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:15:7334299838849636 IPK Allium database]. The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (previously Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung) hosts a comprehensive living collection of ''Allium'', including both wild and cultivated taxa.
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| === ''Araceae'' ===
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| [http://www.cate-araceae.org/ Cate - Araceae]
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| CATE-Araceae is a community of experts and enthusiasts, trying to improve our understanding of the taxonomy, biology, ecology and evolution of the Araceae. It aims to produce an up-to-date, accessible and integrated, consensus classification of the Araceae. Supported by 7 institutions. [http://www.cate-project.org/ CATE] stands for Creating a Taxonomic e-Science.
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| ==== ''Lemnoideae'' ====
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| [http://waynesword.palomar.edu/1wayindx.htm Wayne's Word Lemnaceae On-Line]
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| Curator: W.P. Armstrong
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| === ''Cactaceae'' ===
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| [http://www.cactus-mall.com/homepage.html The Cactus and Succulent Plant Mall]
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| A portal to all cactus sites
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| [http://www.cactuspro.com/ Au Cactus francophone] in French
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| ==== ''Sempervivum'' and ''Jovibarba'' ====
| | [[Category:General pages]] |
| [http://stalikez.info/fsm/semp/site/index.php?lg=fr Sempervivophilia] | |
| In French
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| ==== ''Gymnocalycium'' ====
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| [http://houdste.free.fr/index.html Gymnocalycium Galerie] in French.
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| [http://gymnocalycium.fr/index.html/ Gymnocalycium...ement vôtre] in French.
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| === ''Compositae'' ===
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| [http://www.compositae.org/ TICA] = The International Compositae Alliance
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| TICA is an international organization with the goal of promoting contact among systematists working on the ''Compositae'', especially those using molecular data for big picture phylogenies.
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| ==== ''Cichorieae'' ====
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| [http://wp6-cichorieae.e-taxonomy.eu International Cichorieae Network]
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| A new initiative towards a web-distributed revision of the ''Cichorieae''.
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| ===== ''Hieracium'' =====
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| [http://www.ibot.cas.cz/hieracium/studygroup/ Hieracium Study Group]
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| Based in the Czech Republic.
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| === ''Astereae'' ===
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| [http://www.msb.unm.edu/herbarium/astereae/ Astereae Working Group]
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| Hosted by the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (USA)
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| === ''Cucurbitaceae'' ===
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| [http://www.cucurbit.org/ Cucurbit Network]
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| Concentrates on cultivated cucurbits. Many resources, including a checklist, publications and events.
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| === ''Dipterocarpaceae'' ===
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| [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/diptero/ Dipterocarpaceae Data Base]
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| The Dipterocarpaceae Data Base was begun in 1993 by ABW Associates Ltd., based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and has had several other contributors since then. Originally used as a taxonomic tool in the production of the Manuals of Dipterocarps for Foresters, it has grown to include much more information, including records of all the specimens in the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and all specimens of Thai Dipterocarpaceae. It currently holds 1,477 plant names and 10,952 plant records.
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| === ''Gramineae'' ===
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| [http://grassworld.myspecies.info/?nocache=1 Grassworld]
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| GrassWorld is an online information system of the world’s grasses derived from a DELTA dataset. The current version has descriptions to most species in English, French, German and Spanish. The basic kernel of GrassWorld is the morphological data of Kew’s Grassbase to which many ancillary characters have been added - bibliographic, geographic, illustration sources, name derivation, cytology, classification, naturalised status.
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| [http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/index.htm Grassbase]
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| This site presents a set of detailed morphological descriptions of all grass species. A synonymy index is downloadable.
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| ==== ''Triticeae'' ====
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| [http://www.k-state.edu/wgrc/Taxonomy/taxintro.html Wheat Taxonomy]
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| Hosted by the Kansas State University. Gives the details of all the existing classifications of genus ''Triticum'', and the links between them.
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| === ''Lacistemataceae'' ===
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| [http://www.lacistemataceae.org Lacistemataceae electronic monograph]
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| Since the splitting of the polyphyletic Flacourtiaceae ss., no synthesis is available on the new family Lacistemataceae. The aim of this site is to provide such a synthesis. The curator is Fee Young (Reading).
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| === ''Lecythidaceae'' ===
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| [http://sweetgum.nybg.org/lp/index.php Lecythidaceae pages]
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| This site created by Scott Mori (New-York Botanical Garden) offers full descriptions of many species, with common names and uses. It is profusely illustrated with many links and downloadable files.
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| === ''Leguminosae'' ===
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| [http://www.ildis.org/ ILDIS]
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| International database on the Leguminosae of the World, with access to the literature. Created in the United-Kingdom (Reading and Cardiff). One of the oldest and most comprehensive database on a plant family.
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| === ''Malpighiaceae'' ===
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| [http://herbarium.lsa.umich.edu/malpigh/index.html Malpighiaceae]
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| Curator: Christiane Anderson. The contents are based mainly on the work of William R. Anderson and Christiane Anderson (University of Michigan) and of Charles C. Davis (Harvard University). This project is supported by grants to the University of Michigan and to Harvard University.
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| The genus pages give uses and the etymology of the scientific name. There are apparently no species pages for the moment.
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| === ''Malvaceae'' ===
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| [http://malvaceae.info/index.html Malvaceae Info]
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| Covers the family ''Malvaceae'' (sensu APG), including a World checklist, popular names, uses...
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| === ''Melastomataceae'' ===
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| [http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herbarium/melastomes/default.htm Melastomataceae of the world] | |
| The goal of this website is to provide a centralized clearinghouse for information about the Melastomataceae. Included herein are pages providing images, descriptions of various groups, current research around the world, bibliographic references, phylogenetics, melastomatologists, and other topics. Curator: Darin S. Penneys, University of Florida.
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| === ''Monocotyledonae'' ===
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| [http://e-monocot.org/ eMonocot]
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| eMonocot aims to create a global online resource for monocot plants. It will provide a focus for taxonomists working on monocots and will help people discover information about monocots by providing tools for identification, up-to-date checklists, descriptions and links to other resources. It is a consortium between Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Oxford University and the Natural History Museum (United-Kingdom).
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| === ''Moraceae'' ===
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| ==== ''Ficus'' ====
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| [http://www.figweb.org/ Figweb]
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| Everything on the genus ''Ficus'' and their pollinators. Created by the Cape Musea, in collaboration with Simon van Noort and Jean-Yves Rasplus.
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| === ''Orchidaceae'' ===
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| [http://orchidees.provence.free.fr/cadres.sites.neo/cadre.sites.fra.html portal to orchid sites]
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| [http://pm.blais.pagesperso-orange.fr/index.html Orchidées de Provence]
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| Much more than what the title says.
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| [http://www.webring.org/hub/theworldoforchid World of Orchids]
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| === ''Palmae'' ===
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| [http://www.palmweb.org/ Palmweb] (Palms of the World Online)
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| Palmweb is an authoritative source of information about palms, one of the most important plant families in the world. It contains data compiled by palm diversity experts for all 2,400 palm species. Bagan as an EDIT project, and supported by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin-Dahlem, and Aarhus University.
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| Uses and common names are given, but not in so much detail.
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| === ''Piperaceae'' ===
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| ==== ''Peperomia'' ====
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| [http://www.peperomia.net The Internet Peperomia Reference]
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| Created by Guido Mathieu. Focus on taxonomy and nomenclature. Apparently no indication of uses or popular names.
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| === ''Rosaceae'' ===
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| [http://bioweb.wku.edu/Rubus/default.asp Rubus website]
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| Developed by a researcher in ''Rubus'' phylogeny, Lawrence Alice.
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| === ''Rubiaceae'' ===
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| [http://www.kew.org/data/categories.html World Checklist of Rubiaceae]
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| The coffee family.
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| === ''Sapotaceae'' ===
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| [http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/sapotaceae/ Sapotaceae Resource Centre]
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| This website is designed to provide an international virtual information network for researchers interested in the flowering plant family Sapotaceae. It includes information on herbarium collections, publications, research projects, individuals and meetings. Hosted at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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| === ''Solanaceae'' ===
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| [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/solanaceaesource/ Solanaceae Source]
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| ''Solanaceae'' Source aims to produce a worldwide taxonomic monograph of all species in the genus Solanum. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds the project as part of the Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBI) mission. Created by the Natural History Museum, London. Just beginning...
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| === ''Umbelliferae'' ===
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| [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/URC/frames.html?http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/URC/urchomepage.html Umbellifer Resource Centre]
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| This website, and it's sister the Araliaceae Resource Centre, are designed to provide an international virtual information network for researchers interested in the flowering plant Order Apiales. It includes information on publications, research projects, individuals, datasets, news and views, etc. Hosted at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It seems not to work for ''Araliaceae'' (Dec. 14, 2011).
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| === ''Zingiberaceae'' ===
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| [http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/zrc/ Zingiberaceae Resource Centre]
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| This site brings together in one place taxonomic and related information which has been gathered from herbaria and libraries across the world. The aim is to help researchers, wherever they are, to get the basic data they need for taxonomic revisions and to encourage international collaboration between botanists. Hosted at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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| == Inventories by use group ==
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| They are listed in the page of the use group concerned (e.g., vegetables, timbers...)
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| [[fr:Plantes utiles]] | | [[fr:Introduction aux plantes utiles]] |
Definition
A useful plant is simply a plant used by man (strictly speaking, no plant is useless). It can be used:
- whether it is a wild plant, a weed or a crop;
- with very diverse purposes: human or animal food, technical uses, auxiliary plants for agriculture or environment, medecine, pleasure or culture;
- at different periods: from prehistory to contemporary times;
- at very different scales: from a village to the globe;
- with diverse social statuses: from famine food to highly valued specialties.
Use groups
How many useful plants in the world?
As a gross estimate, there are 7-8,000 crops (cultivated species), and the total number of useful species may be more than 34,000.
In fact, it is quite impossible to give a precise and exhaustive list of useful plants, because:
- explicit or implicit criteria vary from one source to the other;
- inventories are based on names, and recent taxonomic revisions are often lacking to identify synonyms;
- there is no consensus between specialists on classification, above all of crops. For example, the Citrus genus includes 16 species according to Swingle and 162 according to Tanaka.
- even if we reach a consensus at the level of biological species, we have to decide whether inventories deal with species or crops. For example, rape (canola) and swede belong to the same species (Brassica napus). Chicory (witloof) and radicchio (Cichorium intybus) as well, or jute and meloukhia (Corchorus olitorius). For producers and users, they are different crops.
Global inventories before Internet
- Kunkel (1984) : 12 650 'food plants'
- Uphof (1968) : more than 6 000 'economic plants'
- Mansfeld (2nd edition, Schultze-Motel, 1986): 4 800 'crops' (excluding forest trees and ornamentals)
- Mansfeld (3rd edition, Hanelt and IPK, 2001): 6 100 'crops' (excluding forest trees and ornamentals)
Other books offer lists of variable interest (Facciola, 1990; Sánchez-Monge, 1991; Tanaka, 1976).
bibliographical references
Global inventories on Internet
This is the most complete base, constituting the 'taxonomic core' of the information system of the United States on genetic resources, and including 26 462 genera and 89 533 species. Given its purpose, all the relative species susceptible to be used as genetic resources are included, as well as ornamentals and timbers. Moreover, species considered as noxious weeds, rare and threatened species, and species included in the annexes of the CITES Convention are also included. GRIN has now developed as a reference list for all gene banks in the world.
Electronic version of the 2001 book. Unfortunately, no scientist has been available to update the names since then, and it is slowly becoming obsolete. But it is still interesting for old data.
It is not exactly an inventory, but this site contains resources on a great many plant species. Created by Wayne P. Armstrong (San Marcos, Califormia), it gives many fascinating and scientifically accurate data about useful plants, with many good photographs. The link given is a portal arranged according to the alphabetical order of botanical families, with internal links to all particular pages.
Other inventories
National or regional inventories and websites about useful plants
Inventories and websites by plant family
Inventories by use group
They are listed in the page of the use group concerned (e.g., vegetables, timbers...)