More plants with flowers than expected

2002/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika

They say there are 422,000 plant species with flowers on the ground. So far experts believed that flowering plant species could be between 270,000 and 320,000, but botanist and conservationist David Bramwell, in the specialized magazine Plant Talk, has given the previous figure.

According to the British botanist, the calculation shows the need to complete an inventory of plant diversity, since many of these species are found in areas where the habitat is disappearing, in the Tropics and in the Mediterranean. According to Bramwell, the presence of more species aggravates the situation of endangered plants, which in his opinion is 94.000.

To make a new calculation, David Bramwell has taken into account the flora regions of the world. For each of them he has chosen the most complete flora catalogue, to which he has added exclusive plants. Thus it has obtained the world data of 422,000 plant species.