The Lope-Okanda Game Reserve, in central Gabon, is set in one of the most species-rich tropical rainforests in the world, yet the Reserve, in which is located the Station d'Etude des Gorilles et Chimpanzes (SEGC), is virtually unknown botanically. A knowledge of the flora of this Reserve is important to the research on gorillas and chimpanzees and to general conservation work in the Reserve. This project will produce a checklist of the plants of the area. The project involves intensive collecting in the Reserve during four periods of three months over two years. This strategy will ensure coverage of all phenological periods. Because of the network of roads within and near the Reserve, activity would be concentrated in two portions of the Reserve; along the western side on the many roads and trails associated with the SOFORGA lumber company's work, and along the trail system radiating from the SEGC research station near the northeastern corner of the Reserve. Field-collected specimens would be dried at the National Herbarium of Gabon in Libreville and identified there as well as at the herbaria of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Laboratoire de Phanerogamie, Paris. Information obtained from the Reserve specimens will be added to the TROPICOS botanical database at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and a checklist will subsequently be derived. The database, the checklist, and associated specimens will be of particular value in the production of Flore du Gabon, commenced in 1961 by the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and now only one-third complete.
