The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a
database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of
seed plants,
ferns and
lycophyte
The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a vascular plant (tracheophyte) subgroup of the kingdom Plantae. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina. They are one of the oldest ...
s." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
and
genus.
[ It includes basic bibliographical details associated with the names. Its goals include eliminating the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names.][
The IPNI also maintains a list of standardized author abbreviations. These were initially based on Brummitt & Powell (1992), but new names and abbreviations are continually added.
]
Description
IPNI is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ( Index Kewensis), The Harvard University Herbaria
The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural ...
(Gray Herbarium Index), and the Australian National Herbarium ( APNI). The IPNI database is a collection of the names registered by the three cooperating institutions and they work towards standardizing the information. The standard of author abbreviations recommended by the '''' is Brummitt and Powell's '' Authors of Plant Names''. A digital and continually updated list of authors and abbreviations can be consulted online at IPNI.
The IPNI provides names that have appeared in scholarly publications, with the objective of providing an index of published names rather than prescribing the accepted botanical nomenclature
Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this ...
.[
]
See also
* Plants of the World Online
* The Plant List
* Index Fungorum
* Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database
References
External links
* of the IPNI – searchable for plant name, author name, publication
{{Kew Gardens
Botany books
Botanical nomenclature
Databases in the United Kingdom
Online botany databases
Online taxonomy databases
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew