Challenges, Solutions, and Workflows Developed for the Taxonomic Backbone of the World Flora Online.

The World Flora Online (WFO) is the collaborative, international initiative to achieve Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC): "An online flora of all known plants." WFO provides an open-access, web-based compendium of the world’s plant species, which builds upon existing knowledge and published floras, checklists and revisions but will also require the collection and generation of new information on poorly known groups and unexplored regions (Borsch et al. 2020). The construction of the WFO Taxonomic Backbone is central to the entire WFO as it determines the accessibility of additional content data and at the same time, represents a taxonomic opinion on the circumscription of those taxa. The Plant List v.1.1 (TPL 2013) was the starting point for the backbone, as this was the most comprehensive resource covering all plants available. We have since curated the higher taxonomy of the backbone, based on the following published community-derived classifications: the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV 2016), the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG I 2016), Bryophytes (Buck et al. 2008), and Hornworts & Liverworts (Söderström et al. 2016). The WFO presents a community-supported consensus classification with the aim of being the authoritative global source of information on the world's plant diversity. The backbone is actively curated by our Taxonomic Expert Networks (TEN), consisting of specialists of taxonomic groups, ideally at the Family or Order level. There are currently 37 approved TENs, involving more than 280 specialists, working with the WFO. There are small TENs like the Begonia Resource Center and the Meconopsis Group (with five specialists), medium TENs like Ericaceae and Zingiberaceae Resource Centers or SolanaceaSource.org (around 15 experts), and larger TENs like Caryophyllales.org and the Legume Phylogeny Working Group, with more than 80 specialists involved. When we do not have taxonomic oversight, the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP 2019) has been used to update those families from the TPL 2013 classification. Full credit and acknowledgement given to the original sources is a key requirement of this collaborative project, allowing users to refer to the primary data. For example, an association with the original content is kept through the local identifiers used by the taxonomic content providers as a link to their own resources. A key requirement for the WFO Taxonomic Backbone is that every name should have a globally unique identifier that is maintained, ideally forever. After considering several options, the WFO Technology Working Group recommended that the WFO Council establish a WFO Identifier (WFO-ID), a 10-digit number with a “wfo-” prefix, aimed at establishing a resolvable identifier for all existing plant names, which will not only be used in the context of WFO but can be universally used to reference plant names. Management of the WFO Taxonomic Backbone has been a challenge as TPL v1.1 was derived from multiple taxonomic datasets, which led to duplication of records. For that reason, names can be excluded from the public portal by the WFO Taxonomic Working Group or the TENs, but not deleted. A WFO-ID is not deleted nor reused after it has been excluded from the WFO Taxonomic Backbone. Keeping these allows for better matching when assigning WFO-IDs to data derived from content providers. Nevertheless, this implies certain considerations for new names and duplications. New names are added to the WFO Taxonomic Backbone via nomenclators like the International Plants Name Index (IPNI, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew et al. 2021) for Angiosperms, and Tropicos (Missouri Botanical Garden 2021) for Bryophytes, as well as harvesting endemic and infraspecific names from Flora providers when providing descriptive content. New names are passed to the TEN to make a judgement on their taxonomic status. When TENs provide a new authoritative taxonomic list for their group, we first produce a Name Matching report to ensure no names are missed. Several issues come from managing and maintaining taxonomic lists, but the process of curating an ever-growing integrated resource leads to an increase in the challenges we face with homonyms, non-standard author abbreviations, orthographic variants and duplicate names when Name Matching. The eMonocot database application, provided by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, (Santarsiero et al. 2013) and subsequently adapted by the Missouri Botanical Garden to provide the underlying functionality for WFO's current toolset, has also proven itself to be a challenging component to update. In this presentation, we will share our hands-on experience, technical solutions and workflows creating and maintaining the WFO Taxonomic Backbone.

A Brief Early History of Plant Science in St. Louis and the Partnership between Washington University and the Missouri Botanical Garden

Since the founding of the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) in 1859, the emphasis on research and the distribution of research findings in botany has been, and will remain, one of the central components of the garden’s mission. Likewise, Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), the MBG’s partner in graduate programs since 1885, has had a continuous and similarly strong emphasis on research and the dissemination of research findings in plant science through publications. Since the beginning of this partnership, the ongoing extension of common research themes has been critical, through the early focus on traditional botanical studies (1885–1930) at the MBG, the move toward a focus on physiology and the emerging field of ecology (1930–1960), and eventually the shift to the study of biochemistry, molecular biology, and genomic studies in plant science (1960–present), primarily at WUSTL. For more than 135 years (1885–2020), this St. Louis–based collaboration has had a prominent place in the region’s rich history in plant science. In recent years, collaboration with and contributions from other St. Louis–area degree-granting institutions in the field (such as Saint Louis University [SLU] and the University of Missouri–St. Louis [UMSL]) have steadily increased. Couple this with the addition of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (Danforth Center) in 2000, which, like the MBG, has undertaken research and training in plant science, and you now have impressive depth and diversity within St. Louis’s plant science offerings. As a result, both organizations train students and carry out peer-reviewed research funded by the same agencies (i.e., National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture) as the region’s degree-granting institutions. Every year, a significant number of master’s degree and Ph.D. graduates in this consortium comprise an impressive pool of talent available for postdoctoral training, research, and teaching positions, as well as employment in government entities and private and public life science corporations. To this end, St. Louis has one of the largest concentrations of plant science Ph.D.’s in the world (with more than 1,000 such individuals residing in the region [BioSTL, 2018]), as well as a broad diversity of disciplines represented. In addition, the faculties at both the Danforth Center and MBG frequently serve as adjunct members of university departments and as advisors to graduate students, and greatly increase the breadth of topics offered in the St. Louis plant science community, particularly in areas not directly supported by the universities. Both organizations contribute to an increasingly important part of this ecosystem. Below is a short history of the relationship between the MBG and WUSTL, and how this collaboration, primarily through graduate research education, has been foundational for the St. Louis area’s impressive plant science ecosystem. This is not a detailed review of the science generated by these organizations, but rather an account of the initial events and leaders that led to the region becoming the present-day hub for plant science.

Introduction: philosophy of New Directions in Garden Tourism.

This introductory chapter reviews the current state of research in garden tourism before describing the structure of the book. It also highlights some recent garden openings, new garden audiences, and new initiatives and new uses in existing gardens. A case study is presented of the Missouri Botanical Garden as an example of one garden that is combining new initiatives to attract visitors.

From Geneticist to the Garden to Senior Botanist: Edgar Anderson and the Study of Plants in the 20th Century

This examination of Edgar Anderson’s career from his undergraduate studies at Michigan Agricultural College beginning in 1914 to his death at the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1969 is an opportunity to trace the study of plants in the middle half of the 20th century. He came to the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1922 as geneticist, but he took Senior Botanist as his last title. His perspective was always generalist and synthetic, applying insights from specialization for their broadest implications. This approach led to his recognition of the role of repeated backcrosses, introgressive hybridization, as a major evolutionary mechanism, a view being tested and explored increasingly by today’s workers. Analogously, his disciplinary approach similarly reflected introgression as he helped incorporate genetics, cytology, ecology, and developmental biology—in a word, biosystematics—into the botany that he studied as a young man.

AVALIAÇÃO ETNOBOTÂNICA DAS ESPÉCIES DAS FAMÍLIAS ASTERACEAE E LAMIACEAE UTILIZADAS COM POTENCIAL MEDICINAL NA REGIÃO DE PORTO VELHO – RONDÔNIA

O Brasil alberga uma incontestável diversidade de plantas utilizadas com potencial medicinal para o tratamento de várias doenças, vale ressaltar que muitas espécies ainda não têm sua comprovação quanto o seu real potencial terapêutico. A partir de um levantamento etnobotânico na região de Porto Velho - Rondônia objetivou-se verificar para qual finalidade é usada as espécies das famílias Lamiaceae e Asteraceae. Para a confirmação cientifica utilizou-se as plataformas SciELO, PubMed, ScienceDirect e LILACS, foi utilizada a base de dados Internacional Plant Names Indes (IPNI), Tropicos Missouri Botanical Garden, para a confirmação dos nomes científicos atualizados. Das plantas mais citadas da família Asteraceae apenas a Acmella olarecea L. não foi encontrado nenhum estudo para problemas cardiovasculares e nem para patologias respiratórias, como os entrevistados havia indicado, seus estudos centrados para cicatrização de ulceras, a família Lamiaceae dentre as mais citadas todas confirmam a sua efetividade na literatura, entretanto o Plecanthus barbatus Andrew. Demonstrou não ser eficaz contra a malária, os estudos até o momento corroboram com a indicação popular, evidenciando a importância de aliar o conhecimento empírico com os estudos científicos.

Alternanthera bettzickiana (calico plant).

There are no published reports about the invasiveness of A. bettzickiana, a cultivated herb not known from the wild other than where escaped from cultivation. In most of the countries where it occurs, it is reported as an ornamental species (Missouri Botanical Garden, 2016). In Palau, although is listed as only planted near the Capitol, it is listed as a species of possible threat without further information (Space et al., 2009). In Texas it is not considered as a threat to native plant communities, although occasionally escaping to disturbed areas near where planted (Nesom, 2009). It is reported as a short-term escape for India (Sankaran et al., 2014) and common and not invasive in Taiwan (Wu et al., 2004). It is also escaped and naturalized in the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru and St. Lucia (D'Arcy, 1967; Graveson, 2012; Missouri Botanical Garden, 2016), but without further details.

Ruellia macrophylla (large leaved ruellia).

R. macrophylla is an herb or small shrub occasionally planted as ornamental for its bright red flowers. Within its native distribution range, this species is listed as "rare" or "uncommon" (Davidse et al., 2012; Missouri Botanical Garden, 2017). To date, R. macrophylla has been listed as invasive only in Cuba (Oviedo Prieto et al., 2012). However, the status and distribution of R. macrophylla on this island is uncertain and while some authors classify this species as "alien" and "invasive" in Cuba, other authors consider it as native for this island (Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong, 2012; USDA-ARS, 2017).

Initiatives to Promote Ecosystem and Human Health

This chapter examines four programs where public gardens have contributed horticultural and ecological expertise to partnerships for the management of public landscapes and to increase public access to nature. In collaboration with other community institutions, the Missouri Botanical Garden, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, and Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens have assumed a range of roles, including those of community convener, technical expert, and innovator, as part of initiatives that support the environmental health of their communities. The initiatives investigated in this chapter demonstrate that efforts to improve a community's environmental conditions must recognize the importance of understanding what the natural environment means locally and that a community has more than one story about its relationship to the natural environment. A community's history and the experiences of all its residents influence the perceived relevance of the natural environment, and the ways in which people conceptualize the need for and potential benefits of green space. In the cases of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, these environmental initiatives succeeded when they met their respective communities where they were, both physically and experientially. The chapter reveals an overarching recognition that partners and community stakeholders cannot “buy into” an environmental vision or initiative if they do not understand it.