Floristics in Mexico today: insights into a better understanding of biodiversity in a megadiverse country

Abstract

Advancing our current knowledge on floristic richness in Mexico requires access to different sources, including published and unpublished inventories, fascicles of ongoing floristic projects, and publicly available online databases. The evaluation of these sources reveals how extensive the information available on the country’s floristic diversity is, its heterogeneity, and the lack of protocols and standards for its proper organization, analysis, and synthesis. This review addresses the extent to which these sources of information provide the basis to achieve the long-awaited goal of completing the Flora of Mexico, and how traditional outputs of taxonomic work (Floras and checklists) are useful to other fields of biological research. We identified major knowledge gaps, as well as actual and potential uses by other scholars and the public. Although all reviewed sources focus on a better knowledge of the Mexican plant species, each one has its own approach, geographic coverage, and objectives, producing incompatibilities that hamper their integration for rapid and efficient synthesis and analysis. Such integration should offer an updated scenario of its taxonomic and geographical coverage, setting the foundations for organized protocols and strategies aimed to complete the Flora of Mexico in the short term. Floristic knowledge for the country continues to advance actively, as indicated by the growing number of floristic inventories and the buildup of online databases. This synthesis shows how much we know today about Mexico’s vascular plant richness and highlights the relevance of this knowledge to other fields of study of nature, particularly those related to its plant component.

Zamia magnifica (Zamiaceae, Cycadales): A New Rupicolous Cycad Species from Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico

“…Zamia magnifica occurs in one locality in the La Chinantla region, in Norte, Oaxaca. La Chinantla region is an area that has been suggested to be a Neogene refuge [32], where a high floristic richness and great endemism of ancient and rare taxa occur [33,34]. About 1021 species have been reported in this locality [33,35,36].…”

Vascular plants of the Médanos de Samalayuca natural protected area, Chihuahua, Mexico

“…Yet, many areas and many groups still require be explored. Precise information on the species and their ecological requirements is useful to scholars, land managers and general users (Villaseñor & Meave 2022). The updated checklist of the wild and naturalized vascular flora of Samalayuca compiled here adds 117 species (30 %) to the previous inventory (Gatica Colima 2019) and to a preliminary list included in the Management Program (CONANP 2013).…”

High vascular plant species richness in the Usumacinta River Basin: a comprehensive floristic checklist for a natural region in the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot

“…Thereafter, each scientific name was reviewed thoroughly to determine if the name was valid, or if it was a synonym or basionym, as well as the most recent taxonomic and nomenclatural status. This process involved three steps: (1) the comparison of the scientific names with the Plants of the World (WCVP 2021) and Tropicos (Tropicos 2021), including the Flora Mesoamericana project (legacy.tropicos.org/Project/FM) databases; (2) the comparison with the checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico (Villaseñor 2016) (see Villaseñor & Meave [2022] for an updated discussion of "of the current status of the Flora of Mexico"); and (3) the names of the species of several groups (e.g., Orchidaceae, Peperomia, Rubiaceae) were reviewed by specialists and updated according to their criteria (see Acknowledgments section). These steps were necessary due to the frequent updates undergone by botanical nomenclature.…”