Introduction and general considerations

The preparation and publication of floras and related works has been a constant feature of systematic botany since late in the sixteenth century. In that time, this activity in a formal sense has spread from central and western Europe to other parts of the world. In some cases, however – and particularly in eastern Asia – it absorbed, and was to an extent influenced by, autochthonous floristic traditions. At different times – and particularly in the twentieth century – floristic work has prevailed over other approaches to plant diversity. This trend, first noted in 1959 by Stafleu and later by Thorne and Gómez-Pompa, was affirmed in an extensive review by Jäger in the late 1970s. From the 1980s, floristics (and its products) have received renewed emphasis from conservation and biodiversity interests, and the scope, strengths and weaknesses of floras have been analyzed in symposia and individual articles.