A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea

Abstract

The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, expert-validated knowledge product, which provides a concise synthesis and overview of current knowledge on 3901 vascular plant species documented from Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, including their accepted names and synonyms, as well as their distribution and status within Guinea (indigenous or introduced, endemic or not). The CVPRG is generated automatically from the Guinea Collections Database and the Guinea Names Backbone Database, both developed and maintained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with the staff of the National Herbarium of Guinea. A total of 3505 indigenous vascular plant species are reported of which 3328 are flowering plants (angiosperms); this represents a 26% increase in known indigenous angiosperms since the last floristic overview. Intended as a reference for scientists documenting the diversity and distribution of the Guinea flora, the CVPRG will also inform those seeking to safeguard the rich plant diversity of Guinea and the societal, ecological and economic benefits accruing from these biological resources.

Fig. 1

Maps showing Guinea’s location, political and geographic features (a), and distribution of botanical collections in space and time (b). (a) Map showing location in West Africa of Republic of Guinea and the four regions in which it is divided. Inset shows Guinea’s location in West Africa. Main map shows boundaries of Guinea’s four regions which are used to summarise species distributions in the Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. (b): Map of collection locations of the georeferenced collections in the Guinea Collections Database. Spatial biases in collecting patterns include the following collecting ‘hotspots’: A Mts Nimba; B Mts Simandou; C around the major towns of the Fouta Djallon: Mamou, Dalaba, Pita, Labe and Mali.

Fig. 2

Growth in numbers of plant species known from Guinea and in the numbers of herbarium specimens documenting the Guinea flora. Increase over time in: (i) plant species recorded from the Republic of Guinea, plotted (dashed trace) by the date when species was first described (which may predate their first record from Guinea by many years) and (ii) herbarium specimens collected in Guinea and incorporated in the Guinea Plant Collections database, plotted (solid trace) by their year of collection.