Monocot Checklist-Project Completed
The Monocot Checklist Project is a five-year project initiated in April 2001 to create a global checklist of all Monocot taxa. The primary objective is to consolidate global knowledge on monocot taxonomy and geography by bringing together published data that can be found in many different formats (books, journals, pamphlets, electronic) and in many different places around the world, standardising the data using internationally agreed Taxonomic Databases Working Group standards and presenting the most up-to-date taxonomy. It also aims to bring together knowledge by seeking cooperation with Monocot taxonomists around the world.
The checklist provides basic nomenclatural and biogeographical information, current knowledge and taxonomic opinions. When writing regional checklists or Floras, the data provides the basis for achieving a high quality product. For monographers, it provides all the names in a particular taxonomic group. For conservationists it gives instant synonymised lists of a particular country or region. For the general public it is the most complete tool to check the orthography, geography and synonymy of monocots. As the name is the most important single element to which other data is attached, the database serves as the centre of a larger system such as ePIC, bringing together different kinds of plant-related data, such as images, local uses, anatomical data, DNA and molecular data, and making it run efficiently as names and taxonomies change.
The data have been made widely available on the world wide web since June 2004 and usage has increased as families have been added (see Annex 1). The data are also being published as hard-copy publications, some of which have already appeared (Araceae 2002, Palms 2005, Cyperaceae 2006, Dioscoreales 2006, Myrtaceae 2008); many more are in preparation.
Project Team
Selected CVs
- Davies, Rosemary A.
- Cribb, Phillip J.
- Dransfield, John
- Cable, Stuart
- Chase, Mark W.
- Barker, Christine
- Brodie, Christopher J. [Chris]
- Allkin, Robert (Bob)
- Baker, William J. [Bill]
- McGough, H. Noel
- Mayo, Simon J. (Retired)
- Jackson, Mark
- Lock, J. Michael (Retired)
- Harman, Kehan T.
- Hinchcliffe, Sally
- Gilbert, Michael G.
- Govaerts, Rafaël H.A.
- Fay, Michael F.
- Rudall, Paula J.
- Savolainen, Vincent
- Simpson, David
- Nicolson, Nicola
- Pearce, Timothy
- Way, Michael
- Wilkin, Paul
- Phillips, Sylvia
- Roberts, David L.
- Taylor, Nigel (resigned Sept 2011)
- Nic Lughadha, Eimear M.
Project Leader: Govaerts, Rafaël H.A.
Directorate
Eimear Nic Lughadha
Herbarium, Library, Art & Archives
William Baker, Christine Barker, Peter Boyce, Chris Brodie, Richard Brummitt, Stuart Cable, Katherine Challis, Derek Clayton, Philip Cribb, Rosemary Davies, John Dransfield, Aljos Farjon, Mike Gilbert, Rafaël Govaerts, Kate Hardwick, Kehan Harman, Michael Lock, Brian Mathew, Simon Mayo, Noel McGough, Sylvia Phillips, David Roberts, Dave Simpson, Paul Wilkin, Jeffrey Wood
HPE
Nigel Taylor
ISD
Bob Allkin, (Nick Black), (Sally Hinchcliffe), Mark Jackson, Nicola Nicolson, (John Wall)
Jodrell Laboratory
Tim Pearce, Michael Way
Project Partners and Collaborators
Australia
Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Belgium
National Botanic Garden, Meise
University of Ghent
University of Leuven
Brazil
Pontifíca Universidade Católica do Paraná
Canada
University of British Columbia
China
University of Hong Kong
South China Botanical Garden
Costa Rica
Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Czech Republic
Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences
Germany
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Munich Botanical Garden
Japan
University of Tokyo
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
Netherlands
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Utrecht University branch
Papua New Guinea
University of Papua New Guinea
Russia
V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute
South Africa
Harold Porter National Botanical Garden
Switzerland
Universität Zürich
Université de Neuchâtel
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Trinidad-Tobago
Yasmin Bash-Comeau
UK
Chelsea Physic Garden
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
USA
University of Michigan
New York Botanical Garden
Missouri Botanical Garden
Smithsonian Institution
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
University of Georgia
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Vietnam
National Center for Natural Sciences and Technology
Funders
USA
Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationAnnex Material
Annex 1: Total monthly searches on the World Checklist of Monocotyledons website (Word document)
