Welcome to GATEWAY TO AFRICAN PLANTS

Plants are an essential resource for human well being. They are essential for food and the development of agriculture, medicine, construction, and the ecosystem services which sustain our lives, including soil protection, water retention and the recycling of nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen. Great amounts of information on plants and their uses exist, but unless the name of a plant is known, then finding that information is impossible. Without being able to identify a plant and attach a name to it we cannot sustainably use, manage or conserve that plant effectively. Plant identification is also increasingly important in monitoring the effects of climate change. This project seeks to build an interactive, user-friendly, widely accessible tool which will facilitate identification of African plant genera: the first step in synthesising knowledge from dispersed information held in disparate sources.