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 http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=flora  http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/zy198.htm#F . 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. http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/pacificislandbiodiversity/hawaiianflora/supplement.htm
* *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