Format: ORAL

Alan S. Weakley 1 Michael T. Lee 1 Scott G. Ward 1 J. Christopher Ludwig 2 Katie Gibson 3

1 North Carolina Botanical Garden (Herbarium NCU), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA 2 Seedbox Consulting, Maidens, USA 3 High Country Apps, Bozeman, USA

The flora (a treatise on or list of the plant life of a particular region) has been a centuries-old basic tool in understanding, studying, and using the plant biodiversity of a particular geographic area. The contents and format of floras have evolved through time, but typically include a list organized by taxonomy of the species native or naturalized in the region covered, with descriptions of the morphology, habitats, phenology, and synonyms of each, including keys for their identification, and sometimes including other information (illustrations, maps, synonyms, taxonomic discussion, chromosome numbers, etc.). Floras are difficult to develop, expensive to publish and purchase, often written for a limited and technical audience, and infrequently revised, hampering the utility and currency of this necessary resource. The Southeastern United States Flora project covers a biodiverse area of in southeastern North America, with about 11,000 vascular plant species. We are using modern technology to reinvent the flora as a dynamic, digital resource for modern biodiversity science and conservation by developing and maintaining a database, FloraManager. FloraManager supports easy revision by multiple authors, production of products in diverse platforms (traditional paper, web app, installable mobile app), and customization of those products. Digital flora products enable us to have nearly unlimited imagery, taxonomic concept-mapping to over 7000 other taxonomic sources, insertion of diagnostic illustrations as popups into keys, development of multiple-access graphic keys, geographic autosubsetting of keys, autocreation of on-the-fly dichotomous keys (decision trees) for any set of species in the flora, and inclusion of species-specific conservation information (imperilment status, wetland indicator status, heliophily, ecological conservatism, etc.). Goals include engaging a broader audience (general public, land managers, environmental consultants, etc.) for information on the plants of the region, using modern technology to make plant identification easier, and bringing current taxonomy to bear on locating and conserving plant biodiversity.