XVI International Botanical Congess

The documentation of plant names and their correct application is basic to the understanding and management of global biodiversity. Several major international programs need such lists, but the scale of the enterprise - the number of names, the complexity of contemporary and historical taxonomic and nomenclatural practice, and a general lack of resources in this area - prevents any one organization from completing the task. Using the Internet and replicated distributed database technology, IPNI, combining the data of Index Kewensis, the Harvard Gray Card Index and the Australian Plant Name Index, demonstrates the collaborative maintenance of a publically accessible global list of plant names beween three institutions on three continents. This technology, architecture and management model can be scaled to a truly globally owned and maintained index to plant life on earth.