Description
This is the official yearly release of the South African National Plant Checklist for 2025. The name records included in this release were extracted from the taxonomic backbone of the Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) by the SA National Plant Checklist Coordinator.
BODATSA is a BRAHMS v.8 database that houses the plant taxonomic backbone, e-Flora of South Africa content, and specimen level information from the three herbaria of the South African National Biodiversity Institute [SANBI; namely the National Herbarium (PRE), Compton Herbarium (NBG), and the KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium (NH)], as well as data on the living collections of the SANBI National Botanical Gardens.
The name of a plant is the key to all the information that is available for that plant. With ongoing taxonomic research resulting in new species descriptions and refining of classification systems, it is essential to keep abreast of systematic changes that influence the names of plants. Having a well-maintained, correct and up-to-date plant species inventory (checklist) is essential to all foundational and applied biodiversity research.
SANBI is mandated in the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (2004) to coordinate and promote the taxonomy of South Africa’s biodiversity, as well as to collect, generate, process, coordinate and disseminate information about biodiversity. SANBI is thus obligated to provide and manage a checklist of South African plants and to make this National Plant Checklist available to all end-users.
Accurate species checklists underpin all biodiversity research in the country. The South Africa National Plant Checklist forms the backbone for projects relating to the country’s flora, e.g. the e-Flora of South Africa and the SANBI Biodiversity Advisor website (https://biodiversityadvisor.sanbi.org/), where the Checklist is subsequently disseminated along with information about each plant species; Status Reports for Biological Invasions (https://www.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Biological-invasions-Report-in-South-Africa-in-2022.pdf)—where the Checklist serves as a list of potential invasive taxa yet to be investigated for inclusion in such reports; the Red List of South African Plants (https://redlist.sanbi.org/); and the National Biodiversity Assessment (https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/building-knowledge/biodiversity-monitoring-assessment/national-biodiversity-assessment/).
Data Records
The data in this checklist resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 63,896 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). 2025. The South African National Plant Checklist: 2025 official yearly release. Edited by Klopper, R.R. & Winter, P.J.D. Available online at https://opus.sanbi.org/items/92b6aaa8-84f9-4b4b-9d80-7cba0497cf8d (<add date accessed>).
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is South African National Biodiversity Institute. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: f5dc22ca-0bb1-4692-8a97-cc7ac54d7ed9. South African National Biodiversity Institute publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by South African Biodiversity Information Facility.
Keywords
Checklist; South Africa; Bryophyta; Marchantiophyta; Anthocerotophyta; Trachyophyta; Lycopodiopsida; Polypodiopsida; Cycadopsida; Pinopsida; Liliopsida; Magnoliopsida
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Originator
Geographic Coverage
The Checklist contains accepted names and synonyms of all indigenous and naturalised (including invasive) plant taxa occurring in South Africa (currently excluding the Prince Edward Islands).
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta]., The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta], The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta], The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta], The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta], , The Checklist covers mosses, hornworts and liverworts, lycophytes and ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. [Phylum Bryophyta, Marchantiophyta, Anthocerotophyta, and Trachyophyta],
| Kingdom | Plantae (Plants) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2025-03-20 / 2026-03-31 |
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Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | f5dc22ca-0bb1-4692-8a97-cc7ac54d7ed9 |
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| https://ipt.sanbi.org.za/resource?r=sanpc2025 |