Guide to plant families of southern Africa.

Abstract

Published by SANBI Publishing (South African National Biodiversity Institute) as Strelitzia 31, first edition August 2013, second edition April 2014 Southern Africa has a total of 225 plant families with the 52 largest families covering over 90% of the flora. The large number of plant species in this region (ca. 24 000) makes identification to species level relatively difficult and the first step is usually to determine the family to which a specimen belongs. Knowledge of plant families allows one to place unknown plants into broad categories and then focus on a smaller search for the correct name.