More plants with flowers than expected

2002/06/26 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Botanika

They say there are 422,000 species of plants with flowers on the ground. So far experts believed that plant species with flowers could be between 270,000 and 320,000, but botanist David Bramwell and conservationist have given the previous figure in the specialized magazine Plant Talk in June.

According to the British botanist, his calculation reflects the need to complete an inventory of plant diversity, since many of these species are found in areas where the habitat is disappearing, in the Tropics and in the Mediterranean. "The plant kingdom is much richer than we think, so we need more to identify and classify species than before." According to Bramwell, the presence of more species aggravates the situation of plants in danger of extinction, something that in his opinion is 94.000.

To make a new calculation, David Bramwell has taken into account the flora regions of the world. For each of them he has chosen the most complete catalogue of flora, to which he has added exclusive plants. This has obtained the world data of 422,000 plant species.

In April, governments around the world approved the conservation strategy of plants, the identification of all species and the conservation of their habitats. The new data has intensified the need for this strategy, since most plant species live in threatened habitats such as tropical ones.