XVI International Botanical Congess

Nepal occupies only 0.09% of the total land area of the earth but presents by far the greatest range in elevation of any country. Despite its small area, Nepal comprises about 7000 species of flowering plants. Large numbers of herbarium specimens, including many types, are housed in several international herbaria. Under the aegis of the UK government's Darwin Initiative, The Natural History Museum (London) and Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu) have joined forces to repatriate plant information on some 1700 type specimens housed in British and Japanese herbaria, whenever possible, including digital images and protologues. Additional databases that have also been created include a new version of An Enumeration of the Flowering Plants of Nepal (1978-1982), Nepalese Gazetteer and bibliography related to the Nepal flora. The project paves the way for a new Flora of Nepal.