Conservation and monographic research on the flora of Tropical America

Monographs provide fundamental data critical to making informed conservation decisions. Do modern monographs, however, contribute to our knowledge of the diversity of the Neotropical flora or has most of the enumeration of species already been accomplished in older monographs, floristic treatments, and other research? How well monographed is the Neotropical flora and what is the approximate number of Neotropical plant species new to science that await description? Authors of 76 recent monographs of the Neotropical flora recognized a total of 8711 species, of which 2487 (29%) were new species described by the author of the monograph during the course of the research. The number of species of flowering plants new to science remaining to be described is estimated to be ca. 22000, or about 25 percent of the total flora. These estimates show the critical importance of the contributions of monographers to an accurate and complete inventory of Neotropical plant diversity.