Flora

In botany, flora (plural: floras or florae) has two meanings.

The first meaning  refers  Flowers ,Flower Goddess and plant life in an area or time period (especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life). The corresponding term for animal life is fauna.

The second meaning refers to a book or other work which describes the plant species in an area or time period, with the aim of allowing identification.

The term flora comes from the Latin language. Flora was the goddess of flowers in Roman mythology.

Plants are grouped into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be geographically distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland. Floras can mean plant life of an historic era as in fossil flora.

Bacterial organisms are sometimes included in a flora    . Other times, the terms bacterial flora and plant flora are used separately.

Floras (in the second sense)

Classic floras 

Europe
 Flora Londinensis, William Curtis. England 1777- 1798
 Flora Graeca, John Sibthorp. (England) 1806 - 1840
 Flora Danica, Simon Paulli. Denmark, 1847.
 Flora Jenensis, Heinrich Bernhard Rupp  Germany, 1718.
 Flora Scorer, Paolo Di Canio. 1723.
 Flora Suecica, Carolus Linnaeus. 1745.

India
 Hortus indicus malabaricus, Hendrik van Rheede 1683–1703

Indonesia
  Flora Javae, Carl Ludwig Blume and Joanne Baptista Fischer. 1828.

Modern floras

Americas 

Caribbean
 Britton, N. L., and Percy Wilson. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands — Volume V, Part 1: Botany of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands: Pandanales to Thymeleales. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1924.

Central & South America
 Flora Brasiliensis
 Flora de Chile
 Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica
 Flora of Ecuador
 Flora of Guatemala
 Flora de Nicaragua
 Flora of Peru 
 Flora of the Guianas
 Flora of Panama
 Flora del Paraguay 
 Flora of Suriname
 Flora Mesoamericana (1994-ongoing) Introduction
 Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana
 Flora Neotropica (1968-ongoing) Organising committee website .

North America
 Flora of North America
 Kearney, Thomas H. Arizona Flora. University of California Press, 1940.
 Hickman, James C., editor.  The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California.  University of California Press, 1993.
 Hultén, Eric. Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories: A Manual of the Vascular Plants. Stanford University Press, 1968.
 Radford, Albert E. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
 Hitchcock, C. Leo, and Arthur Cronquist. Flora of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, 1973.
 Chadde, Steve W., and Steve Chadde. A Great Lakes Wetland Flora. 2nd ed. Pocketflora Press, 2002. 
 P. D. Strausbaugh and Earl L. Core. Flora of West Virginia. 2nd ed. Seneca Books Inc., 1964. 
 Ann Fouler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block. The Plants of Pennsylvania. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. 
 Nathaniel Lord Britton and Hon. Addison Brown. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada. In three volumes. Dover Publications, 1913, 1970.

Asia 
China and Japan
 Flora of China
 Flora of China in eFloras
 Flora of Japan
Southeast Asia
 Flora of Thailand
 Florae Siamensis Enumeratio
 Flora Malesiana 
 Flora of the Malay Peninsula
 Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêt-Nam
Indian region and Sri Lanka
 Flora of Bhutan
 Flora of the Presidency of Madras by J.S. Gamble (1915-36)
 Flora of Nepal
 Bengal Plants by D. Prain (1903)
 Flora of the upper Gangetic plains by J. F. Duthie (1903-29)
 Botany of Bihar and Orissa by H.H. Haines (1921-25)
 Flora of British India (1872-1897) by Sir J.D. Hooker
Middle East and western Asia
 Flora of Turkey
 Flora Iranica
 Flora Palaestina:
 M. Zohary (1966). Flora Palaestina part 1.
 M. Zohary (1972). Flora Palaestina part 2.
 N. Feinbrun (1978). Flora Palaestina part 3.
 N. Feinbrun (1986). Flora Palaestina part 4.
 A.  Danin, (2004). Distribution Atlas of Plants in the Flora Palaestina Area (Flora Palaestina part 5).
 Online updates: http://flora.huji.ac.il/browse.asp?lang=en&action=showfile&fileid=14005

Australasia 

 Flora of Australia series
 Flora of New Zealand series:
 Allan, H.H. 1961, reprinted 1982. Flora of New Zealand. Volume I: Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons. .
 Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970, reprinted 1976. Flora of New Zealand. Volume II: Indigenous Tracheophyta - Monocotyledons except Graminae. .
 Healy, A.J.; Edgar, E. 1980. Flora of New Zealand Volume III. Adventive Cyperaceous, Petalous & Spathaceous Monocotyledons. .
 Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.;Garnock-Jones, P.J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand Volume IV: Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. .
 Edgar, E.; Connor, H.E. 2000. Flora of New Zealand Volume V: Grasses. .
 Volumes I-V: First electronic edition, Landcare Research, June 2004. Transcribed by A.D. Wilton and I.M.L. Andres.
 Galloway, D.J. 1985. Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. .
 Croasdale, H.; Flint, E.A. 1986. Flora of New Zealand: Desmids. Volume I. .
 Croasdale, H.; Flint, E.A. 1988. Flora of New Zealand: Desmids. Volume II. .
 Croasdale, H.; Flint, E.A.;Racine, M.M. 1994. Flora of New Zealand: Desmids. Volume III. .
 Sykes, W.R.; West, C.J.; Beever, J.E.; Fife, A.J. 2000. Kermadec Islands Flora - Special Edition. .

Pacific Islands 

 Flora Vitiensis Nova, a New Flora of Fiji
 Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i, Warren L. Wagner and Derral R. Herbst (1991) + suppl. 
 Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie
 Flore de la Polynésie Française (J. Florence, vol. 1 & 2, 1997 & 2004)

Europe 

British Isles
 Morton O. 1994. Marine Algae of Northern Ireland. Ulster Museum, Belfast. 
 Stace, Clive Anthony, and Hilli Thompson (illustrator). A New Flora of the British Isles. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1997. .
 Beesley S. and J. Wilde. Urban Flora of Belfast. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast, 1997.
 Killick, John, Roy Perry and Stan Woodell. Flora of Oxfordshire. Pisces Publications, 1998. .
 Bowen, Humphry. The Flora of Dorset. Pisces Publications, 2000. .
 Flora Celtica Plants and people in Celtic Europe
 Flora Europaea at the site of The Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh 
 Flora of Europe
 Flora Iberica
 Flora of Acores 
 Flora Danica 
 Flora of Romania

Africa and Madagascar 

 Flore du Gabon
 Flore du Cameroun
 Flora of Tropical Africa
 Flora of Tropical East Africa
 Flora Capensis
 Flora Zambesiaca 
 Flora of South Africa
 Flore du Rwanda
 Flore de Madagascar et des Comores

Related pages
 Biome — a major regional group of distinctive plant and animal communities.
 Vegetation — a general term for the plant life of a region.
 Fauna

Other websites 

 eFloras — a collection of on-line floras
 Chilebosque — checklist of Chilean native flora
 Flora of NW Europe  with descriptions and a quiz to test your knowledge
 Flora of Israel Online 
 Flora of Australia Online 
 Flora of New Zealand Series Online

Botany
Ecology
Reference works