How many species of seed plants are there?

Journal article

Recent estimates of the number of described species of seed plant have varied by as much as 62%. The underlying methodology of these estimates is characterised and discussed. We present a revised figure for the number of seed plants based on estimating rates of synonymy in a sample of recently monographed taxa. We conclude that some recent figures overestimate the number of described seed plant species by more than 200,000. This discrepancy is explained by an over-reliance on checklists and floristic studies that underestimate synonymy rates.

Authors: Scotland, R; Wortley, A

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: TAXON
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 101-104
• Publication date: 2003-02-01
• DOI: 10.2307/3647306
• ISSN: 0040-0262
• Language: English
• Keywords: checklists; seed plants; species diversity; monographs; synonymy