This project aims at completing a biological inventory of the nearly 10,000 species of plants that inhabit the Amazonian forests and Guayana Highlands in Southern Venezuela. The results will be published in an 8-volume illustrated Flora, the first ever produced for this region. Records of the species and their distributions will be kept in an expandable computer database. Volume 1, the introduction to the series, will provide interpretative and supporting data for the succeeding taxonomic volumes, including large scale vegetation and topographic maps, geographical details of the flora region, and analyses of the vegetation types and species found int he area. This volume will be produced in both English and Spanish editions, while the others will appear in English. The information obtained from the Flora will be used as the foundation to produce a catalog of all of Venezuela's plants, now estimated at 15,000 species and representing one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity.
