XVI International Botanical Congess

The 'Kew World Checklists and Bibliographies of Vascular Plants' were initiated in 1994 and aim to furnish nominally complete coverage in 25-30 years hence. For each family are given all generally accepted species and infraspecific taxa along with synonymy, geographical distribution (including TDWG codes), life-form and occasional comments, as well as annotated references to standard literature. In addition to publication in print, the lists are being distributed electronically through IOPI and, in time, to Species 2000. The principles, methods, and progress of the work will be described. Three installments have already appeared. It is anticipated that by mid-2000 some 41,000 species will have been published or be in press, a further 40,000 or more are planned for 2000-2005.