A checklist of verified names is a necessary foundation for floristic work. The Internet Directory for Botany provides an extensive listing of online checklists and floras . This authoritative information will be used worldwide by scientists in basic and applied research, as well as by those working in conservation, land management, horticulture, and medicine. The Flora of China Checklist is a database searchable via a web interface at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is a systematic reference that contains all of the scientific names that have been published for China.
Records provide dynamic lookups to distribution maps for all accepted taxa.
Type information, including images, will gradually be entered into the database, and will eventually be an invaluable resource to researchers worldwide. Many of the collaborators working with the Flora of China project, as well as botanists elsewhere, who do not have access to all of the relevant literature, will find the checklist most valuable for their work. Verification provides scientists with reliable information that the citation is correct and whether or not the taxon is validly published. It is estimated that the checklist will contain a total of about 135,000 botanical names, including synonyms. Infraspecific names are especially difficult to track down since the Index Kewensis did not begin including these until 1971.