Sampling the Green World

Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned that only 15% of plant and animal diversity has been catalogued to date. In this text, 21 leading experts in systematic botany outline a plan for mapping phytodiversity in the next half century. The book opens with a historical overview and a consideration of societal and scientific needs from plant collections. The contributors provide a comprehensive look at the protocols and procedures for collecting, documenting, storing and preserving specimens and consider methods of retaining images for plants that cannot be sampled. The book closes with a discussion of techniques for dealing with specimens that have already been collected, considering that many storage environments may need to be improved.