[New publication] - Meise Botanic Garden meets important educational needs

Meise Botanic Garden has just launched a new publication, which provides an introduction to the field of botanical classification and naming (plants and fungi). It is available for free (Open Access), as hard copy and electronically as PDF. After having been published in French and English, translations into Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and Indonesian are now also available. The classification and naming of the plants and animals occurring on our planet is a crucial first step of biological science. Researchers from the Botanic Garden realized that such an introduction to plant systematics (also known as plant taxonomy) was lacking in the French language, but, moreover, that it was hardly ever taught at universities and colleges in tropical Africa.

This publication, especially intended for students, was created in collaboration with the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and gives a practical overview of the most important elements and backgrounds. It covers the history of taxonomy and evolutionary research, species concepts, key nomenclatural rules, plant identification, and how to prepare a taxonomic revision. With this, the authors hope that in the future a much larger number of students will graduate with this knowledge in their backpack, and thus contribute to the mission of the Botanic Garden, to study and protect plants and fungi and to spread our knowledge about them.

Download the publication : English - French - Dutch - Spanish - Portuguese - Indonesian