Paul Valéry (1871-1945)...

#Painting, ‘Shakunage Rhododendron’ by Zuigetsu Ikeda, 1877-1944.

TENS, or Taxonomic Expert Networks, help improve the WFO taxonomic backbone and curate a global consensus classification. TENs also provide a platform for world’s experts to share knowledge on world’s plants. At our most recent meeting, we added seven TENS, bringing our total up to 68!

After being in the research collection for 15 years this unidentified Rhododendron, collected by George Argent flowered and we were able to identify it as Rhododendron mogeanum. A threatened species from Kalimantan. #Ex-situ #Rhododendron

La Red de Taxónomos Expertos del orden Buxales, liderada por Pedro A. González Gutiérrez recientemente completó un tratamiento global integral a nivel de especies que incluye una revisión sobre la tipificación.

Instead of a bouquet of roses, this Valentine's Day we're hoping we get rose experts to help us form a Rosaceae Taxonomic Expert Network, or TEN. 🌹

Did you hear the big news from our friends at Botanic Gardens Conservation International? BGCI launched new updates to PlantSearch that strengthen its role as the world’s most comprehensive resource on living plant collections. WFO will serve as the primary taxonomic reference! Swipe to learn more.

🚨New content alert🚨
WFO is always adding new data! Last month we added the following data:

🌺 Plants of Nepal

🌸 Flora Helvetica
🇫🇷 French descriptions
🇩🇪 German descriptions

🌼 Flora of Central Africa

📈 Approximately 50% of the Parse GBIF data

Browse the latest data on worldfloraonline.org

As we start off the new year, WFO is excited to share our latest Plant List Update. The Plant List is updated twice a year in conjunction with the solstices. Watch to learn more about what's new since June.

Welcome to one of our newest TEN, Hydnoraceae!

Welcome to one of our newest TEN, Monimiaceae!

Rhododendron dashanbaoense Figure 1 from Zhang & Su Line drawings of Species. nov. A. flowering branch. B–D. flowers. E. ovary and style. F. stamen. G. leaf adaxial surface. H. leaf abaxial surface. Drawing by Mingmiao Chen Illustrated by Mingmiao Chen

Rhododendron Dashanbaoense (Ericaceae), a New Species from North-Eastern Yunnan, China

Zhang, Ye, Wang, Luo, Chen, Liu & Su
CURRENT SCIENCE
5(6),5472-5482

currentscience.info/index.php/cs...
🧪🪴🌱

A photo diagram describing a coin. The right side of the diagram shows the reverse side of the coin with a flowering truss of an elepidote Rhododendron. Nepalese writing surrounds the rhododendron. There is a smaller image of the front of the coin on the top left, writing encircles a faded graphic that may be a crown, with a crescent moon on the top left and a sun on the top right. In the bottom left of the diagram, text reads, “Nepal 1 Paisa 2029(1972) Aluminum 16.75mm 3,036,000 Engraver unknown 2028-2036(1971-1979)”

Rhododendron coin!
From Nepal, 1972

@worldfloraonline.bsky.social

Nomenclatura y taxonomía para la comunidad: La familia de angiospermas Putranjiváceas cuenta ya con un nuevo catálogo global

rjb.csic.es/nomenclatura...

Adaptive strategies of Rhododendron campanulatum and Rhododendron anthopogon subsp. hypenanthum in the alpine ecosystem of Central Himalaya, India Rhododendron campanulatum and Rhododendron anthopogon subsp. hypenanthum are significant species of the alpine ecosystem of the Central Himalaya, Indi…

Rhododendron campanulatum dominance increased progressively with altitude gain

Leaf traits showed strong negative correlations with rising altitude

Shrubby growth of R. campanulatum aids survival in cold environments

Morphological changes suggest adaptation to harsh alpine conditions
🧪🍁🌏🌐🌿🌱🪴

Marking 125 years of #EJBotany #OpenAccess and its forerunner, Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we are delighted to announce that ALL content is now freely available at journals.rbge.org.uk/notes and journals.rbge.org.uk/ejb

The full checklist prepared by @worldfloraonline.bsky.social Taxonomic Expert Network can be found here @ejbotany.bsky.social

#Putranjivaceae #WorldFloraOnline
journals.rbge.org.uk/ejb/article/...

Scaffolding for Scientific Knowledge - the Nomenclatural Checklist A checklist of the plant family Putranjivaceae has just been published in the Edinburgh Journal of Botany (Quintanar et al. 2025). It’s a list of all the species accepted in the family. But it is more...

Scaffolding for Scientific Knowledge – the Nomenclatural Checklist
stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/40823

Excited to share my first PhD paper which was based on my fieldwork at @thebotanics.bsky.social and just published on @geoopenaccess.bsky.social yesterday! 🌺

Cultivating Scientific Authority: A Vegetal Geography of Chinese Rhododendrons at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The paper presents a vegetal geography of Chinese rhododendrons at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), examining the mechanisms through which RBGE's scientific authority is established in the ....

PhD work by @mingcan-rong.bsky.social on the colonial legacy of cultivating scientific authority through the lens of Rhododendron @thebotanics.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/geo2...

🚨Extended deadline for our plant identification tool survey!🚨

World Flora Online is planning plant identification features that could be incorporated into the WFO platform and we want to hear from you to guide our priorities. 🧵

As the world faces a biodiversity crisis, precise knowledge about specific species is more important than ever.
World Flora Online’s Taxonomic Expert Networks, or TENs, are collaborations of taxonomic experts who work together to agree upon a consensus classification for their plant groups.

Happy Halloween from WFO! You may have heard of the ghost orchid, but did you know there is also a phantom orchid, hairy shadow witch orchid, and even a whole genus of dracula orchids? If you did, or know someone who knows all of this and much more about orchids, send them our way!

Welcome to our newest member, Real Jardín Botánico!
📷 by Antonello Dellanotte

Welcome to our newest member, Info Flora, the national data and information center on the Swiss flora. To date, 55 botanic gardens and botanical institutes are represented on the World Flora Online Council.

Welcome to our newest member, Jardin Botanico La Laguna!

To date, 55 botanic gardens and botanical institutes are represented on the World Flora Online Council.

World Flora Online is planning plant identification features that could be incorporated into the WFO platform and we want to hear from you to guide our priorities. We invite you to tell us what you need from future WFO ID tools in a 10‑minute survey.

Happy World Coffee Day! WFO is looking for a coffee expert, and we don’t mean your local barista.
We want to form a Taxonomic Expert Network (TEN) for Rubiaceae, the coffee and quinine family. Swipe through to learn more about TENS, and send your favorite rubiaceae experts our way!

Call for papers on #Rhododendron living collections for a special issue of Sibbadia the journal of botanical horticulture. More info at the end of the link.

journals.rbge.org.uk/rbgesib/anno...

With Love. From an Invader. – Rhododendrons, Empire, China and Me - The Eriskay Connection An intensive field study on a Rhododendron ponticum bush provides insight into our view of native and non-native on an ecological and political level.

With Love. From an Invader. – Rhododendrons, Empire, China and Me

An intensive field study. Every other day for a year, Yan Wang Preston (CN/GB) went to a particular love-heart-shaped Rhododendron ponticum bush and photographed it.

🧵
1/10
#nativeplants
#invasiveplants
#Rhododendronponticum

The June solstice has passed, which means we have a fresh update for our WFO Plant List! The big news since December is we now have more than 200 named co-authors on the WFO Plant List. Watch to see what else is new and visit worldfloraonline.org to browse the Plant List.