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Botany in Honduras

Central America is a tropical region of very high biological diversity. It forms a corridor between two continents: groups of Gondwana and Laurasian origins mingle, along with a significant endemic element. In spite of this, 'floristically, Central America is the least known part of the world'. To date, international research efforts have tended to concentrate in the southern part of this region (Costa Rica and Panama); with almost no comprehensive work done in Honduras. Honduras is the most heavily forested country in Central America and is highly threatened by future changes in climate, yet there is a remarkable paucity of detailed information on the native forest community. Although the numbers of plant collections have been relatively high in the past, most collection efforts have been very localized.

 

Early botanical surveys dating from the nineteenth century include collections by A. Sinclair et al. of the H.M.S. Sulphur voyage and by W.B. Hemsley. Later, there were localized collections by Samuel J. Record, Paul C. Standley and T.G. Yuncker. During the 1950's -- 1990's botanical contributions to the Honduran Flora were mostly limited, with a few publications describing smaller additions to the Flora. In 1996 C.H.N. Sutherland and colleagues published a catalogue of the Honduran Ferns, which was followed by the most substantial record of the Honduran Flora to date: the Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Honduras. However, Honduras still lacks a published Flora. According to the two published catalogues, the Honduran Flora encompasses 651 species of Pteridophytes [Ferns] and 7950 species of Spermatophytes (flowering plants and conifers). These numbers need to be revised soon as new discoveries continue to be made. 

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