Classificare per conoscere, identificare per riconoscere

Impact of information technology on future floras

Some important facilities offered by the information technology to innovate the development of traditional floras are illustrated and discussed. These include: random access interactive tools for the identification of species, low cost, easy updating, virtually unlimited space for high resolution images and texts, on-line utilities, strong synergy between authors and users. It is argued that the combination of printed books with integrated digital utilities and data-sources is the most desirable structure for future floras.