Philippine Journal of Science
142: 57-67, Special Issue
ISSN 0031 - 7683
Co’s Digital Flora of the Philippines: Plant Identification and Conservation Through Cybertaxonomy
Julie F. Barcelona1, Daniel L. Nickrent2, James V. LaFrankie3,
John Rey C. Callado4 and Pieter B. Pelser1
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury,
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
2Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, IL 62901-6509 USA.
3Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines,
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
4Philippine National Herbarium (PNH), Botany Division,
National Museum of the Philippines, P. Burgos St., Manila, Philippines.
ABSTRACT
A compilation of an unpublished checklist of Philippine vascular plants prepared by the late Leonardo
L. Co and the plant photographs he took form the foundation of the Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines
(CDFP) website (www.philippineplants.org). The aim of CDFP is to present a continuously updated
account of all native and naturalized species of vascular plants in the Philippines with diagnostic
photographs for each taxon. The CDFP checklist currently contains ca. 10107 species in 2001 genera
and 260 families. Of these, ca. 256 (96%) families, 1535 (77%) genera, and 3190 (28%) species are
illustrated with photographs. To facilitate discussions on Philippine botany, a CDFP Facebook group
was also created. It aims to popularize botany and increase the appreciation of plants in the wild. It
also instills awareness in the Filipino people of the threats to the forests upon which their existence and
survival greatly depends. Members of the group provide plant identification services to the general public
free of charge. It is also a platform where members share plant photographs from all over the country
for identification purposes and a tool for connecting students with professional botanists, regardless of
their physical location. As such, CDFP in conjunction with this forum provides a conduit for citizen
scientists to contribute to our understanding of the botanical diversity of the Philippines.
INTRODUCTION
The Philippines is one of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al. 2000, Brooks et al. 2006, Webb et al. 2010). Unfortunately, the forests that harbour its remarkable biodiversity are in decline and this endangers the livelihoods of many Filipinos who depend on it for, amongst other things, food, water and protection against climatic extremes. Efforts to mitigate this trend rely on knowledge of the organisms that compose these ecosystems, but a modern overview of the nearly 11,000 Philippine vascular plant species was, until recently, lacking. . . . . . read more
