The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of names and basic bibliographical details for all seed plants. It contains over one million records from Index Kewensis, over 350,000 from the Gray Index, and over 63,000 from the Australian Plant Names Index. IPNI is a collaborative product of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium.
Use Cases
- Standardizing plant nomenclature in research based on the global name database.
- Verifying publication details for plant names based on the included bibliographic information.
- Tracking the historical publication of plant taxa based on records from Linnaeus's Species Plantarum onward.
- Identifying and comparing names for New World vascular plants based on Gray Index data.
- Studying Australian vascular plant names based on contributions from the Australian Plant Names Index.
Strengths
- Contains over one million records from Index Kewensis, providing global coverage.
- Includes over 350,000 records from the Gray Index with details for New World taxa.
- Integrates over 63,000 records from the Australian Plant Names Index.
- Represents a merger of three complementary indices from major botanical institutions.
Limitations
- Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- The dataset focuses on seed plants; fern data from Index Filicum is not yet included.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the source indices (Kew, Harvard, Australia).
Provenance
- Source
- The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium.
- Collection Method
- Merger and standardization of records from Index Kewensis, Gray Index, and Australian Plant Names Index.
- Time Range
- Names from Linnaeus's Species Plantarum (1753) to present.
- Geography
- Global, with specific contributions for New World and Australian taxa.