XVI International Botanical Congess

The botanical community is increasingly aware that it has produced a great body of information that is essentially sequestered in libraries and herbaria. This information must be synthesized to be useful to the consumers of botanical information. It is through floristic research that botanists synthesize the available information into coherent and referable works, and the products of floristics (floras, manuals, catalogs, etc.) are the routes by which botanical information is passed to other scientists and the general public. Two current issues make floristic research particularly important in our time: a) a concern for the environment and the consequent need for accurate information to plan workable strategies for managing it, b) the need to synthesize into the floristic framework both the information on phyletic relationships and taxonomic theory generated in the past quarter century and more recent sophisticated concepts. It is a truism that more accurate understanding of natural relationships increases the usefulness of floristic works. Particularly important has been the use of collaborative work processes to facilitate logistical and intellectual aspects of large-scale projects. The experiences in floristic research by the participants in the Flora of North America prompt the proposal of this symposium, which is conceived to explore the changing goals of floristics and factors affecting the methods of synthesis.