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Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (eds), 2012. Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Volume 7(2) : Timbers. Wageningen, PROTA-CTA. 804 p.

The second and last volume of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) about timbers has just been published, in English and French. The description of 693 species are being added to the 511 species treated in volume 1. It is the first time that such a synthesis is undertaken at the continent level. It covers as well what is of interest for the botanist as for the forester or the wood industry. New wood anatomy descriptions have been done for this book.

This volume is added to the seven already published on useful plants. All data is put on line on the PROTA site, in English and French, which now constitutes the best on line encyclopedia about useful plants.

Unfortunately, PROTA now faces difficulties in finding new funds, at a time when people speak of sustainable agriculture or biodiversity. The need to rely on an exhaustive knowledge base about our plant resources will surely be felt later, but when ?

The books can be purchased through CTA or Earthprint.

Michel Chauvet
26 September 2012

The plant of the month: Helianthus

Chrysanthemum perunianum (Dodoens 1568)

Nowadays, sunflower is a commercial crop, whereas Jerusalem artichoke is viewed as a forgotten vegetable. It was the reverse in the XVI-XVIIIth centuries, when sunflower was considered as an occasional ornamental, and Jerusalem artichoke seen in Europe as competing with potato as a staple. Historical accounts show it clearly.

As an example, we offer the first known drawings of sunflower from Dodoens, and one of the first mentions of American plants by Champlain (1603)

It is now up to you to contribute!

Michel Chauvet

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What is Pl@ntUse?

Pl@ntuse is a collaborative space for exchange of information on useful plants and uses of plants. It is not intended to duplicate existing encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), but to offer additional features such as:

• On-line resources that you can reuse
• Portal towards relevant resources available on Internet
• Thematic introductions to literature or any subject of interest
• Species lists (legumes grown in France, world cereals...)
• Popular names or vernacular names
• Portrait galeries of cultivars (varieties)
• Old books and articles on useful plants
• Original publications
• Iconography
• Questions and answers

The working method

It is of course scalable and open for discussion. But the basic idea is not to produce consensus summaries. It is rather to provide reliable material to allow everyone to make his/her own synthesis. A priority is to upload the data sets that underlie the work, but are rarely published, forcing everyone to start from scratch.

Any kind of page may be created. Templates have been devised to create pages with a similar structure and with similar content. Such pages are easily accessible through categories or portals. If you intend to upload new types of information, please ask the administrators, who will help you create and use a new template.

As is customary in the scientific community, we mention the author of each contribution. However, most of the contributions may be corrected or updated, as far as they reach consensus. See Help:Authors of contributions

Each page is potentially available in English and French. By default, we are beginning with French, except for books written in English. You can collaborate by translating.