At the State Herbarium, a major avenue for advancing knowledge is taxonomic revision. Plant groups for such focused research are selected because the current classification reflects an inaccurate view of the species and their relationships in nature. These long term efforts are highly effective in bringing knowledge closer to reality. They entail:

  • examination of the bulk of collections and historic literature of the group
  • extensive field work particularly in infraspecific complexity
  • avenues of research relevant to establishing limits of species and races within species
  • analysis of data and the application of existing botanical names using international rules of botanical nomenclature.

The work yields a fresh classification that reflects the evolutionary and genetic relationships of species and infraspecific variants.

Such studies are undertaken across the geographic range of the group.

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