Floras

Field Guides

Designed to be used primarily in herbaria (but also useful on field trips, but not usually in front of the living plant)

Designed to be used primarily in the field (also during field trips, but e.g. after a day’s work, as with a Flora)

Rarely planned with an eye on marketing strategy; usually subsidised for long term development of national or regional natural resources (in developed countries Floras are more commercial)

Sometimes directly commercial propositions, but more technical types usually require some subsidy, as the economic value is not expected to be seen through direct book sales (except in developed countries)

Heavy and expensive, occupying much shelf space. Rarely found in non-botanist’s homes

Ideally in one portable volume. Non-botanists more often have one on their shelves at home.

Emphasise formal taxonomy, like legal documents, with lists of synonyms and often specimens of each species. Often with full descriptions, but some only have detailed keys

Ideally emphasise the minimum amount of information required to identify the plant where it grows. Rely on other work (usually a Flora) to define the origin and legitimacy of the plant names

Generally include a broad  range of plants; e.g. all vascular plants

Typically restricted to a narrower subset of all species than a Flora, e.g. trees.

Supposedly complete for the groups included

May sometimes be incomplete for the botanical groups included (e.g. timber trees).

Often cover complete biogeographic regions (Neotropics, the Lesser Antilles), but (colonial) politics often confuse this

More often are aimed at one country or region within it, where the collation of field characters and local names is more manageable

Focus on fertile characters, so are often more precise for herbarium specimens with these characters.

Focus on field characters, so are usually the only way to name plants where they are met in the field, or sterile specimens. Hence,  often less precise than Floras where the latter can be used at all

Often take decades to write

Usually take 1-5 years to write, sometimes even months

Usually lack practical information on cultivation or usage

Often include information about how to cultivate or  use

Tend to have few (<50%) pictures, although there is a special type of Illustrated Flora, intermediate in this sense to Field-Guides

Typically have most of the species illustrated