TAXON 59 (6) • December 2010: 1942–1948 Plant systematics world

Alfred Hansen was a very knowledgeable leader of excursions be remembered by his botanical colleagues and by many amateur
both in Denmark and on his beloved Mediterranean and Macarone- botanists for his enthusiasm for botany and for the vast fund of
sian islands, and he was a good guide for Danish amateur botanists. knowledge that he always shared with those who came to seek his
Persons asking him about plants could expect to have a hand-written advice.
reply by return post.
It is not common that a botanist disappears from the scene on Ib Friis & Henrik Ærenlund Pedersen
the day he or she retires from a professional post, but sadly enough Natural History Museum of Denmark
this was the case with Alfred Hansen. Already at his retirement his (Botanical Garden and Museum)
memory had begun to fail, and this complaint soon worsened and Gothersgade 130, 1123 Copenhagen K, Denmark
cut him off from all botanical activities. Still, Alfred Hansen will ibf@snm.ku.dk; henrikp@snm.ku.dk

The African Plants Initiative (API) in of scholarly resources from and about Africa as part of an aim
South Africa to connect resources and scholars from around the world. They
provide powerful tools for knowledge exchange and production.
Introduction More recently, JSTOR, which is also part of Ithaka, has taken over
Given the ongoing and often destructive impact of humans on the management of the plant component of ALUKA with a view
the natural environment, the need for sound and robust taxonomies to creating a global botanical resource.
has become critically important (see for example Godfray & Knapp, The API started with the aim of digitising herbarium type
2004). The difficulty with naming organisms is especially acute in specimens of African plants and linking them to a range of related
African countries, where resources and facilities for taxonomic re- images and data, including photographs, drawings, botanical art,
search are limited (Klopper & al., 2002), and biodiversity is usually field notes, published Flora accounts, and other reference works,
relatively high. South Africa, for example, incorporates the world’s and making them available through the internet. Type specimens
richest temperate flora with 19,581 indigenous plant species from are essential in classifying and naming plants, which action in
2267 genera and 349 families of vascular plants (Germishuizen & turn fundamentally underpins all other species-level biological
al., 2006; Steenkamp & Smith, 2006). Approximately 65% of the research, including conservation science. Appropriately, the foun-
country’s vascular plant species are endemic (Raimondo & al., dational importance of systematics in achieving all the Targets of
2009), with many occurring in its three regions and 15 centres of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) has been rec-
plant endemism (Van Wyk & Smith, 2001). ognised (UNEP, 2002); this role of taxonomy has been articulated
Expertise as well as preserved and living material of the bio- eloquently in two recent papers (Paton & al., 2008; Paton, 2009).
diversity of developing nations—typically former colonies of im- In South Africa, the initiative grew to include other projects:
perialist nations—are often located in developed countries and these include medicinal plants of southern Africa, synopsis of
not available in the country of origin (Figueiredo & Smith, 2010). the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, Madagascar and
The CBD recognises this impediment and in Article 17 calls on neighbouring islands, grasses (Poaceae) of southern Africa, aloes
signatory parties to exchange and repatriate information to facili- (Aloe L.; Aspodelaceae) of the world, and the documentation of
tate research (Global Taxonomy Initiative, 2001). To overcome the taxon protologues of the mesembs (Aizoaceae).
obstacle of having to physically ship valuable—and essentially
irreplaceable—pressed plant specimens between herbaria around Project management and workshops
the world, the African Plants Initiative (API) was conceived. The The Initiative was managed by a Senior Advisory Group made
notion was to scan type specimens and make electronic images of up of representatives from SANBI, the Royal Botanic Gardens,
them available online. This approach efficiently enables both vir- Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, the University of Ethiopia,
tual repatriation of information, and access by researchers of other Addis Ababa, and the Mellon Foundation. Individual project co-
herbaria to the most important accessioned material, thus removing ordinators at each participating centre managed the day-to-day
some of the constraints to taxonomic work. It has been six years running of the various projects and implemented decisions taken
since the inception of the API, and this paper reports on its achieve- by the Steering Committee. A technical advisory group (TAG) was
ments in South Africa, one of the founding countries of the thrust. formed to deal with technical issues pertaining to data management
and standards. Four API workshops were held at the Kirstenbosch
Background Research Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, between 2004 and
The API was initiated in 2004 with the South African National 2008. The first three workshops discussed progress, difficulties
Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and future actions while the workshop in November 2008 finalised
Kew, as founding members, following successful grant negotiations the structuring of a small grants programme for future work by
with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The API was initially African members and the identification of current gaps where such
coordinated by ALUKA, which is one of the main programs run funds may be best applied.
by Ithaka. Ithaka is a non-profit organisation which aims to fast-
track the productive and efficient uses of information technology South African API partners
for the global scholar community. Aluka, in turn, is an interna- The type scanning initiative in South Africa was run through
tional, collaborative initiative producing an online digital library SANBI, the Bolus Herbarium at the University of Cape Town

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(BOL), the Selmar Schönland Herbarium at Rhodes University and Documenting taxon protologues of the mesembs (Aizoaceae).
the Albany Museum (GRA), and the Herbarium of the University — The mesembs are one of the largest families of plants in southern
of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg (NU). Within SANBI, the Africa, with nearly 2000 species in over 120 genera; altogether
scanning of types was undertaken at the Compton Herbarium at about 8% of the regional vascular flora. As original taxonomic
Kirstenbosch (NBG), the National Herbarium in Pretoria (PRE), literature, such as protologues of these species, is often published
and the KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium in Durban (NH). Type speci- in old or obscure journals and books, it is frequently difficult for
mens held by the H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium at the Univer- researchers to access. The mesemb protologue project was started
sity of Pretoria (PRU) were scanned at PRE, while those held by in November 2007 and concluded in October 2008. Its aim was to
the SA Museum Herbarium (SAM) were scanned at the Compton obtain and make available as an online database as many mesemb
Herbarium (NBG), which holds and curates them. taxon protologues as possible to assist all students of this plant
The medicinal plants of southern Africa, grasses of southern group and prevent duplication of search effort by successive
Africa and aloes of the world projects were run from the National researchers. Taxon protologues were scanned and stored as PDF
Herbarium (PRE) while the mesembs database and the synopsis files and will be made available (along with associated metadata)
of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta were executed from the to JSTOR as an online resource with links to the relevant type
Compton Herbarium. specimen images already held by JSTOR. A BRAHMS (Botanical
Research and Herbarium Management Software) database was
Staff and capacity building developed for storing and indexing species names based on an
During the course of the API project, 34 contract workers were initial list of names obtained from the International Plant Name
employed for assistance with the above-mentioned endeavours. A Index (IPNI). Each scanned protologue is also linked to the
number of these employees have since taken up permanent posi- relevant name in the database. The project managed to digitise 448
tions within SANBI and elsewhere in the biodiversity sector. Two of about 1000 potential references, which amounts to 7420 pages
staff members, one each from the National and Compton Herbaria, of scanned text.
received training in scanning, databasing, and quality control of Grasses of southern Africa. — Twenty years ago, Gibbs
type specimen data and other images at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Russell & al. (1990) published a comprehensive treatment of
Kew, and they in turn conducted in-house training in South Africa. the grasses of southern Africa. It included descriptions of 198
genera and about 965 taxa. The aim of the API grasses project
Projects was to revise the information in the book and update the text and
Type specimen scanning. — Type specimen scanning was distribution maps, as well as increase the number of illustrations.
initiated in 2004 and completed in 2009. During the scanning All this information, supplemented by photos, will then be made
process type specimens were extracted from the herbarium available to users on the JSTOR website.
cabinets and the label data entered or updated in the Pretoria, The project was initiated in June 2005 and is nearing comple-
National Herbarium (PRE), Computerised Information System tion. Three hundred and six new illustrations were completed with
(PRECIS). A barcode label was generated and attached to each 129 being of whole plants and the remainder of spikelet parts. Scans
specimen, along with a scale bar and colour chart. Each sheet was of 418 illustrations and 372 distribution maps were prepared. The
then scanned as a 600 dpi tiff image, and images later linked to text for 747 taxa was revised and updated.
the relevant metadata. A total of 27 contract staff members was Aloes of the World Project (AWP). — The genus Aloe is a
involved in scanning of type specimens at the six herbaria across prominent component of many African landscapes. The genus
South Africa; these workers scanned a total of 58,788 images of comprises ±600 taxa to which over 1200 names have been applied.
specimens, slides and artworks. A breakdown of image types for Members of the genus can be found in Africa and Arabia, and on
each repository is given in Table 1. Socotra, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. The majority of
Synopsis of Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of Africa, aloes (±400) occur in Africa, with only ±40 in Arabia (two of which
Madagascar and neighbouring islands. — This project started occur also in Somalia) and three on Socotra, while Madagascar
in September 2004 and concluded in June 2008, and it aimed to
provide a synopsis, including relevant synonyms, of the lycophytes
Table 1. Specimens and images scanned by the various herbaria in
and ferns occurring in Africa, the western Indian Ocean region, South Africa as part of the API Type Scanning Initiative. Data current
and the eastern Atlantic Ocean region. The only publication in June 2010.
dealing with these plant groups in Africa and the Madagascan
Type Other Slides Artwork
region as a whole was Kuhn’s Filices Africanae, published in Repository specimens specimens (images) (images)
1868, in which approximately 500 species were recorded. The
PRE 12,000 7,700 3,766 2,200
project brought together scattered old and recent literature into
a single searchable database in an effort to provide a uniform BOL   8,899 0 0 0
nomenclatural platform for the pteridophyte Flora of the defined NBG & SAM   7,985 0 4,185 3,018
region. About 1440 species (including infraspecific taxa) with GRA   3,300 0 0 0
more than 6500 names are now listed in the synopsis. The data is NU    600 3,395 0 0
to be made available as a web-based database by JSTOR, and has
NH & PRU 927 0 813 0
been published in hard copy format by SANBI as volume 23 of the
Strelitzia series (Roux, 2009). Total 33,711 11,095 8,764 5,218

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is presently known to harbour around 140 Aloe species. In the common names of taxa was compiled and included information
AWP the members of genus Lomathophyllum Willd. (all of which such as the language/usergroup and the region where used. A Mi-
are distinctly berry-fruited) were included as a section of Aloe. crosoft Access database was created into which information from
Lomathophyllum comprises ±20 taxa, of which 14 are restricted to the literature used to compile Arnold & al. (2002) was entered. The
Madagascar, one species is found on Aldabra, three on Mauritius, initial intention was to include all the original references, but some
two on Réunion (of which one also occurs on Mauritius), one from were excluded from the database because they were unavailable, or
Rodrigues, and another from Pemba. of a language in which none of the staff was proficient. Data were
The AWP has sought to bring together all the relevant informa- extracted from a total of 15 major reference works.
tion and available images on this predominantly African genus, and The project was managed from the National Herbarium’s Data
to make this information available through JSTOR. The project is Section in Pretoria, starting in May 2005 and concluding in October
a collaboration between SANBI and the National Herbarium at the 2007. During this period seven contract staff members assisted
University of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. In November of 2007—the with the project.
year of initiation of the AWP—a group of about 40 international
experts on the genus Aloe met in South Africa for a workshop to The API goes online
seek consensus on achievable key objectives for the AWP. This was The first release of the African Plants Initiative content area
the first event of its kind where Aloe alone was approached on this on the ALUKA website took place on 1 February 2007. Apart from
scale. Delegates agreed on an interim compromise whereby only the digitised type specimens, Aluka also brought together addi-
essential elements are to be hosted on the JSTOR (African Plants tional materials including photographs, line drawings, water colour
Initiative) website pending an upgrade of the information in line illustrations, oil paintings, and extensive plant-related literature.
with ongoing developments at JSTOR (Smith & al., 2008a,b). Together, these materials provide information ranging from the
The Aloe database currently holds 1250 plant names with 600 morphology and uses of plant species to the history of plant explora-
of those being current. To date 1176 literature references, 322 spe- tion and discovery in Africa, thus providing a holistic portal to plant
cies descriptions, 1139 derivations of taxon names, 305 flowering research in South Africa, and beyond. Much of this content has since
times, 137 chromosome numbers, and 517 habitat information fields been transferred to JSTOR where it can be accessed at http://plants.
have been entered. The database also contains 1519 common names jstor.org. JSTOR currently houses 292,252 scans of plant specimens
and information on 798 type specimens. Fifty distribution maps collected in Africa and 11,821 photographs of African plants.
have been created. A LucID key was created containing a list of
illustrated characters, and the 27 Aloe species occurring in Angola The future
were used as a sample to test the electronic key. Encoding of the More recently the API made available a series of small grants
key is ongoing. to other African countries. Fourteen projects representing eleven
Recently, further funding for the expansion of this project has countries have been funded. Projects range from further digitisa-
been approved. Accordingly, it is expected that the project will be tion of specimens of, for instance, rare, endangered, endemic and
finalised in 2011. invasive plants, to types held in smaller African herbaria, and to
Medicinal plants of southern Africa. — The southern African the compilation of regional checklists to aid in determining levels
region has an extremely rich and diverse flora. The region is also of species diversity and endemism.
home to several cultural groups, all of whom utilise the flora for A further call for support for projects run by SANBI was also
traditional medicines. The information on the medicinal plants of granted, resulting in nine smaller initiatives running from 2009 to
the region is scattered throughout various texts, many of which 2011. These projects will produce electronic identification keys,
are out of print and difficult to source. A comprehensive database checklists, and other electronic resources for selected plant groups.
consolidating the major texts is thus a valuable resource for anyone Further plant specimen digitisation initiatives will also shortly be
interested in the ethnomedicine of the region. undertaken; these target specimens of, for example, economically
The Medicinal Plants Project (MPP) aimed to expand the an- important and endemic plants.
notated checklist of medicinal and magical plants of southern Africa
(Arnold & al., 2002), which was published by the then National Conclusion
Botanical Institute of South Africa. While this text listed medicinal The API has resulted in assisting the fulfilment of some of the
plants known from the region and provided limited floristic infor- obligations of countries signatory to the CBD, namely repatriation
mation, no actual traditional usage information was provided, rather of, and enabling access to, information worldwide. Computeriza-
just references to the literature in which it was cited. The MPP has tion of natural history collections is also an objective of the Global
accordingly aimed to populate a database with extensive additional Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (www.gbif.org) to which
information and images to be hosted on the JSTOR website. For many countries are party.
each record in the database the following information was captured: By making data available through these comprehensive, easily
the ailment treated, the species and plant part used, the country accessible databases, users will be able to rapidly compile biodiver-
of use and the specific user group, whether the plant is used in a sity catalogues, study biogeographical patterns, and assist in both
medical or magical sense, and whether it is used for the treatment long-term conservation planning and adaptive conservation man-
of humans or livestock. 51,373 medicinal records for 3461 taxa agement (Smith & Smith, 2004). Importantly—and ultimately to
were entered into the database, 1318 slide images were scanned, underpin sustainable development for human wellbeing—the work
and 1603 distribution maps produced. A database containing 10,013 of African taxonomists has been shored up by the API. Taxonomists

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will be able to access plant specimen images, so allowing them to Raimondo, D., von Staden, L., Foden, W., Victor, J.E., Helme, N.A.,
continue the important, fundamental work of correctly assigning Turner, R.C., Kamundi, D.A. & Manyama, P.A. (eds.). 2009.
names to plants, strengthening the foundation on which all biodi- Red List of South African plants. Strelitzia 25: 1–668.
Roux, J.P. 2009. Synopsis of the Lycopodiophyta and Pteridophyta of
versity and conservation science is built.
Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Strelitzia 23: 1–296.
Smith, G.F., Walters, M., Crouch, N.R. & Klopper, R.R. 2008a.
Acknowledgements Aloes of the world: A comprehensive collaboration to consolidate
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is thanked for financial knowledge on the genus Aloe L. Aloe 45: 19–20.
support for the African Plants Initiative. The continued support Smith, G.F., Walters, M., Klopper, R.R. & Crouch, N.R. 2008b.
and guidance on the initiative by Mr. Bill Robertson of the Andrew Aloes of the world: African Plants Initiative. An international
web-based collaboration to promote scholarly research on Aloe
W. Mellon Foundation is greatly appreciated, as is the support of L. Bradleya 26: 121–128.
curators and project managers at South African herbaria: BOL, Smith, T.J. & Smith, G.F. 2004. Selecting important plant areas in
GRA, NBG, NH, NU, PRE, PRU and SAM. For participating in southern Africa. S. African J. Sci. 100: 434–435.
the API Project and sharing botanical data relating to South Afri- Steenkamp, Y. & Smith, G.F. 2006. Introduction to A checklist of
can plants, the essential role of many international herbaria is duly South African plants. Pp. iv–ix in: Germishuizen, G., Meyer, N.L.,
Steenkamp, Y. & Keith, M. (eds.), A checklist of South African
acknowledged.
plants. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report 41.
Pretoria: SABONET.
Literature cited UNEP. 2002. Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. COP Decision
VI/9. CBD Secretariat. http://www.biodiv.org/decisions/default
Arnold, T.H., Prentice, C.A., Hawker, L.C., Snyman, E.E., Toma- .aspx?m=COP-06&id=7183&lg=0 (accessed 29 June 2010).
lin, M., Crouch, N.R. & Pottas-Bircher, C. 2002. Medicinal Van Wyk, A.E. & Smith, G.F. 2001. Regions of floristic endemism in
and magical plants of southern Africa: An annotated checklist. southern Africa: A review with emphasis on succulents. Hatfield:
Strelitzia 13: 1–203. Umdaus Press.
Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G.F. 2010. The colonial legacy in African
plant taxonomy. S. African J. Sci. 106(3/4): 5–7. Michele Walters,1 Gideon F. Smith2 & Neil R. Crouch3
Germishuizen, G., Meyer, N.L., Steenkamp, Y. & Keith, M. (eds.).
2006. A checklist of South African plants. Southern African Bo- 1 Biosystematics Research & Biodiversity Collections, South
tanical Diversity Network Report 41. Pretoria: SABONET.
African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X101, Pre-
Gibbs Russell, G.E., Watson, L., Koekemoer, M., Smook, L.,
Barker, N.P., Anderson, H.M. & Dallwitz, M.J. 1990. Grasses toria 0001, South Africa and Centre for Wildlife Management,
of southern Africa. Mem. Bot. Surv. South Africa 58: 1–437. University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa. Pres-
Global Taxonomy Initiative. 2001. Progress Report on the Global Tax- ent Address: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
onomy Initiative. www.biodiv.org/doc/meetings/sbstta/sbstta-06/ (CSIR), Natural Resources and Environment, P.O. Box 395,
information/sbstta-06-inf-04-en.doc. Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Godfray, H.C.J. & Knapp, S. 2004. Introduction. Taxonomy for the
2 Office of the Chief Director: Biosystematics Research and
21st century. Philos. Trans., Ser. B 359: 559–569.
Klopper, R.R., Smith, G.F. & Van Rooy, J. 2002. The biodiversity Biodiversity Collections, South African National Biodiver-
of Africa. Pp. 60–86 in: Baijnath, H. & Singh, Y. (eds.), Rebirth sity Institute, Private Bag X101, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
of science in Africa: A shared vision for life and environmental and John Acocks Chair, H.G.W.J. Schweickerdt Herbarium,
sciences. Hatfield: Umdaus Press. Department of Botany, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002,
Paton, A. 2009. Baseline informatics and the plant conservation base- South Africa
line. Trends Pl. Sci. 14: 629–637.
3 Ethnobotany Unit, South African National Biodiversity Insti-
Paton, A.J., Brummitt, N., Govaerts, R., Harman, K., Hinchcliffe,
S., Allkin, B. & Nic Lughadha, E. 2008. Towards Target 1 of tute, P.O. Box 52099, 4007 Berea Road / School of Chemistry,
the Global Strategy for Plant conservation: A working list of all University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa
known plant species—progress and prospects. Taxon 57: 1–10. Author for correspondence: Gideon Smith, G.Smith@sanbi.org.za

Lawrence Memorial Award—2011 benefit significantly from travel enabled by the Award. The Com-
Nominations mittee will not entertain direct applications. A student who wishes
to be considered should arrange for nomination by his/her major
The Award Committee of the Lawrence Memorial Fund invites professor; this may take the form of a letter which covers supporting
nominations for the 2011 Lawrence Memorial Award. Honoring the materials prepared by the nominee.
memory of Dr. George H.M. Lawrence, founding Director of the Supporting materials should describe briefly but clearly the
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the annual Award of candidate’s program of research and how it would be significantly
($2,000) is given to support travel for doctoral dissertation research enhanced by travel that the Award would support. Letters of nomi-
in systematic botany or horticulture, or the history of the plant sci- nation and supporting materials, including seconding letters, should
ences, including literature and exploration. be received by the Committee no later than 1 May 2011 and should
Major professors are urged to nominate outstanding doctoral be directed to: Dr. R.W. Kiger, Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon
students who have achieved official candidacy for their degrees University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-
and will be conducting pertinent dissertation research that would 3890, U.S.A. Tel. (412) 268-2434.

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