World Economic Plants: a standard reference, 2nd ed

Authors: Wiersema, John; LEON, BLANCA - University Of Texas

Submitted to: World Economic Plants: a standard reference
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2012
Publication Date: 7/10/2013
Citation: Wiersema, J.H., Leon, B. 2013. World Economic Plants: a standard reference, 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 1300 p.

Interpretive Summary: The exchange of plants and plant products in the global economy also requires the accurate exchange of information between producers, traders, regulators, and consumers of foods, spices, forages, ornamentals, timbers, medicinals, and many other commodities. One of the most important parts of this communication concerns the identity of the plant material itself, and for this a standard set of scientific plant names is required. The GRIN Taxonomy database has supplied these for nearly 3 decades, providing easily accessible and scientifically verified plant names to millions of internet users. This book provides updated information, taken directly from GRIN, on 12,000 of the most important economic plants of the world. Its standardized format provides quick answers to key questions about any plant in commerce such as: Where is it from? Where is it grown? How is it used? What is it called? It also includes information on plants such as weeds and poisonous plants that can negatively impact commerce.

Technical Abstract: This publication provides essential reference data for over 12,000 vascular plants of commercial importance from all parts of the world. It presents up-to-date scientific names for these economically important plants arranged alphabetically. The botanic and economic coverage encompasses plants or plant products that are traded, regulated or otherwise directly or indirectly important to international commerce. Among these are food, spice, fiber, forage, ornamental, timber, medicinal, and many other useful plants. Plants with potential for widespread economic usage or plants having a negative economic impact, such as weeds and poisonous plants, are also included. The first part provides the scientific names for each vascular plant and associated information such as common names, synonyms, uses and distribution. The second part provides several indices of all 52,000 common names from part one in their native scripts with their corresponding scientific names.