Missouri Botanical Garden publishes first catalogue of plants of the Sou...(he use of general agreed names which mak...)

This important project was enhanced by the Missouri Botanical Garden's strong partnership with the Instituto de Botnica Darwinion in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its director, Dr. Fernando Zuloaga, was the principal/lead editor of the eight-year project and emphasizes the importance of the catalog in preserving the plant species of the Cono Sur region.

"It's simply not possible to preserve, what we don't know," said Zuloaga. "Now more rational conservation priorities can be set for the region, selected areas can be preserved and enhanced, and plants in special danger of becoming extinct in nature can be brought into cultivation in botanical gardens or seed banks."

The Catologue is the result of the work of over a hundred botanists representing institutions from throughout the Americas and elsewhere in botanical centers worldwide. The individual treatments were subjected to expert review and refinement before the volumes were published. Fernando Zuloaga believes a project of such continent-wide magnitude could not have been accomplished without the successful collaboration among scientists in so many different countries.

"It should be considered as a model for similar projects in other regions of the world, encouraging, beyond political boundaries, the international cooperation of the scientific community, in order to analyze in full the natural environment," said Zuloaga.

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