Library Contact
Scott Martin
Contact:
4323 Taubman Health Sciences Library
Office hour: Th 2-3 PM via Zoom: https://umich.zoom.us/j/9334900604
Office hour: Th 2-3 PM via Zoom: https://umich.zoom.us/j/9334900604
734-764-8196
Website
Web Resources for Botanical Research
The following resources are available on the open web. Scroll down to see databases of plants, taxonomy, and literature; portal websites with information and links; and some organizations dedicated to the conservation of plants.
Important Notice
Some U.S. federal agencies and initiatives are modifying publicly available data and some datasets may not be accessible on their sites at this time. Look for a notice on visible web pages.
For websites/datasets that appear to be inaccessible, here are two archives you could check:
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Databases, Indexes, and Reference
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Angiosperm Phylogeny WebsiteStevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since].
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BPH OnlineAn index of botanical publications by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.
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Flora EuropaeaSearch the digitized version of the botanical work Flora Europaea, pulled from the PANDORA taxonomic database at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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Index Herbariorum"A Global Directory of Public Herbaria and Associated Staff" by the New York Botanical Garden, International Plant Science Center, Steere Herbarium
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Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)"Here you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world. We are a partnership of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies (ITIS-North America); other organizations; and taxonomic specialists. ITIS is also a partner of Species 2000 and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The ITIS and Species 2000 Catalogue of Life (CoL) partnership is proud to provide the taxonomic backbone to the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)."
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International Code of Botanical Nomenclature onlineHosted by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy.
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KBD: Kew Bibliographic DatabasesIncludes Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature, Economic Botany, and Plant Micromorphology
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Global Plants Initiative (GPI)"GPI, formerly known as the Latin American Plant Initiative, is an international partnership of herbaria working to create a coordinated database of information and images of the plants of Latin America. With support from the Mellon Foundation, partner organizations capture data and create high resolution digital images of vascular Latin American type specimens from their collections."
(Harvard University Herbaria) -
Michigan FloraCreated by the U-M Herbarium, the goals of this Michigan Flora Website are to present, in a searchable and browsable form, the basic information about all vascular plants known to occur outside of cultivation in the state.
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NPLichen"This database contains over 29,900 records of documented occurrences of lichens in units of the U. S. National Park System."
(National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)) -
Plant PatentsA comprehensive manual of information on patents for plants, produced by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Includes what a plant patent is, what plants may be patented, how to apply, associated rights, necessary fees, and more. To search for plant patents, see below.
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PlantSystematics.orgA Diversity of Life (DOL) website, supported by biologists, that provides images, cladograms, keys, and other taxonomic data for plant species.
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Taxonomic Name Resolution System"The Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (TNRS) is a tool for the computer-assisted standardization of plant scientific names. The TNRS corrects spelling errors and alternative spellings to a standard list of names, and converts out of date names (synonyms) to the current accepted name. The TNRS can process many names at once, saving hours of tedious and error-prone manual name correction. For names that cannot be resolved automatically, the TNRS present a list of possibilities and provides tools for researching and selecting the preferred name."
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TROPICOS (Missouri Botanical Garden)"TROPICOS® was originally created for internal research but has since been made available to the world’s scientific community. All of the nomenclatural, bibliographic, and specimen data accumulated in MBG’s electronic databases during the past 25 years are publicly available here. This system has over one million scientific names and 3.5 million specimen records."
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USDA PLANTS database"The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories."
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Biodiversity Heritage Library"The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), the digitization component of the Encyclopedia of Life, is a consortium of 12 major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions organized to digitize, serve, and preserve the legacy literature of biodiversity."
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Botanical Society of America"The Botanical Society of America is a membership society whose mission is to: promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere."
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Euphorbia PBI"The goal of this international collaborative project is to produce a comprehensive online resource of information on the plant genus Euphorbia."
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Field Museum Botany DepartmentBotanical collections, news, and links to research sites from the Field Museum in Chicago.
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Missouri Botanical Garden"Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark."
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Smithsonian Botanical LinksBotanical resources provided by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
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USDA Agricultural Research ServiceUnited States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service - "The in-house research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture"
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USDA Forest Service Rare PlantsContains information about the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Botany Program.
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Conservation Websites
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Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)"BGCI is an international organisation that exists to ensure the world-wide conservation of threatened plants, the continued existence of which are intrinsically linked to global issues including poverty, human well-being and climate change. "
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Center for Plant Conservation"The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) is dedicated solely to preventing the extinction of U.S. native plants."
(Hosted by the San Diego Zoo) -
The Nature Conservancy"The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people."
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NatureServe Explorer"NatureServe is a non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to provide the scientific basis for effective conservation action." The Explorer search interface allows searching for name, distribution, and conservation information for plant and animal species.
Additional U.S. Government Resources
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ScienceCinemaA source for videos which highlight the research of the US Department of Energy (DOE).
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Science.govScience.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by 14 U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results. Science.gov brings together, through one interface, reliable resources selected by the respective agencies as important science information.
Botanical Images and Illustration
The following sources link to images and digitized versions of old botanical texts and illustrations of plants. Many images may be restricted due to copyright.
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Krieger's Watercolors of FungiThis collection contains images from the University of Michigan Herbarium's Krieger watercolor collection, along with records that describe them. Part of the Flora and Fauna of the Great Lakes Region database.
Related Guides
Other resource guides that may be helpful...
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BiologyResources for basic research in biology, including: molecular, developmental, and cell biology; ecology and evolutionary biology; botany; and zoology.
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Finding Species InformationA guide for finding factual information about particular plant and animal species.
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Environment and SustainabilityU-M Libraries supports research in natural resources and environmental science through a variety of materials, both print and electronic.
Last Updated: Sep 30, 2025 11:53 AM
Subjects: Science