Australian Plant Name Index

The Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) is an online database of all the names of Australian vascular plants. It covers all names. It includes bibliographic and typification details, links to other resources, and data from the Census of Australian Vascular Plants divided by state. Users can also make notes and comments on other details.

Overview

The APNI is recognised by Australian herbaria as the official source for Australian plant descriptions. It is the core component of Australia's Virtual Herbarium, which is a collaborative project with A$10-million funding. The project is aimed at providing integrated online access to the data and specimen collections of Australia's major herbaria.

Two search interfaces are offered:

• Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) Archived 2013-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, a full search interface that delivers full results, with no automatic interpretation, and
• What's Its Name (WIN), a less powerful search interface that delivers concise results, together with automatic (and not always correct) interpretation.

Originally the idea of Nancy Tyson Burbidge, it began as a four-volume printed work of 3,055 pages. It contains over 60,000 plant names. It was compiled by Arthur Chapman, and was part of the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). In 1991 it was made available as an online database, and handed over to the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Two years later, responsibility for its maintenance has given to the newly formed Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research.

References

• "Australian Plant Name Index". Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
• "The Australian Plant Name Index: an on-line resource of Australian plant names, and What's Its Name ?". Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
• Chapman, Arthur (1991). Australian Plant Name Index (Australian Flora and Fauna Series 12—15). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Other websites

• Official Australian Plant Name Index website Archived 2013-02-12 at the Wayback Machine — full detail search.
• What's Its Name (WIN) — full detail search.