Flora Mesoamericana - Phase 3

对中美洲热带约17,000种蕨类植物、针叶树和开花植物进行完整的清点，是一个雄心勃勃的多研究者、多国家研究计划的目标，该计划在Gerrit Davidse博士的领导下在密苏里州植物园进行协调。《中美洲植物志》以传统出版的丛书的形式，作为一个平行的计算机数据库，是维管植物的概括性清单，提供了基本植物特征的描述、全面的鉴定指南、每一物种的地理范围摘要以及所有植物分类的标准化综合。中美洲包括巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、尼加拉瓜、萨尔瓦多、洪都拉斯、危地马拉、伯利兹，以及墨西哥的恰帕斯州、昆塔纳鲁奥州、坎佩切州、尤卡坦州和塔巴斯科州。密苏里州植物园、墨西哥城国立大学和大英自然历史博物馆的工作人员正在进行分类工作。中美洲植物学家的合作规划和参与是该项目的主要特点。墨西哥正通过国立大学以西班牙语出版植物卷；计算机数据库最初正在圣路易斯和伦敦开发，并将扩展到墨西哥城站。第一卷将处理单子叶植物(草、莎草、百合和近缘植物)和蕨类植物；后续卷将处理双子叶植物和裸子植物。这个广袤地区丰富的植物资源没有可比的清单，其中的一部分正在因人类干扰和发展而迅速变化。

A complete inventory of the estimated 17,000 species of ferns, conifers, and flowering plants of the Middle American tropics is the goal of an ambitious multi-investigator, multi- national program of research coordinated at the Missouri Botanical Garden, under Dr. Gerrit Davidse. Flora Mesoamericana, in the form of a traditional published series of books and as a parallel computerized data base, is a synoptic inventory of the vascular plants that provides descriptions of basic plant features, a comprehensive identification guide, a summary of geographical ranges for each species, and a standardized synthesis of the taxonomy of all the plants. Mesoamerica includes Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, plus the Mexican states of Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Yucatan, and Tabasco. Taxonomic work is being contributed by staff members of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the National University in Mexico City, and the British Museum of Natural History. Cooperative planning and participation of Mesoamerican botanists are major features of the project. The flora volumes are being published in Spanish in Mexico through the National University; the computer databases initially are being developed in St. Louis and in London, and will be extended to the Mexico City station. The first published volumes will treat the monocots (grasses, sedges, lilies, and relatives) and the ferns; subsequent volumes will treat the dicots and the gymnosperms. There is no comparable inventory of the rich plant resources of this vast region, portions of which are changing rapidly through human disturbance and development.