Our Mission
The mission of Flora of the World is to document all flowering plant families in their native habitats—particularly those within biodiversity hotspots—through digital images and physical specimens. The project also aims to record botanical garden inventories worldwide.
Our History
Flora of the World was initiated by the late Dr. Christopher Davidson (1944–2022), a native of Idaho (USA) and a passionate advocate for global botanical exploration and conservation. Over the course of more than 25 years, Dr. Davidson and his wife, Sharon Christoph, traveled to 45 countries—some on multiple occasions—to document flowering plants and to support conservation and botanical research efforts.
The current database comprises more than 232,000 digital images (with a backlog of over 80,000 images) representing over 13,000 collections. These collections span 481 families, 4,524 genera, and 6,053 species (9,257 taxa). To support this work, Dr. Davidson established an extensive private library of natural history, botanical, and rare books, which provides essential taxonomic and ecological context for the collections and digital images. A long-term goal of the project is to integrate this library with the online image database.
Dr. Christopher Davidson, the founder of Flora of the World, collecting a Cunoniaceae in New Caledonia.
Keeping the Mission Alive
Dr. Sven Buerki collecting a Pandanaceae in Thailand.
In 2024, the Dr. Christopher Davidson Endowed Chair in Botany was established at Boise State University (Idaho, USA). This position represents a unique opportunity to advance the mission begun by Dr. Davidson—through training, education, research, and international collaboration.
The inaugural Davidson Endowed Chair in Botany is Associate Professor Sven Buerki. Before joining Boise State University in 2017, Dr. Buerki was a researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Natural History Museum in London, United Kingdom. There, he focused on collecting and describing plants—contributing to the classification of one plant family, four genera, and 33 species—with a particular emphasis on biodiversity hotspots. His research explores how past climate change has shaped the evolution and global distribution of flowering plants. As part of this work, he had the privilege of conducting multiple field expeditions with Dr. Davidson and Sharon Christoph. A deep friendship and lasting collaboration grew out of these botanical journeys, and it is a tremendous honor for Dr. Buerki to continue advancing the mission of Flora of the World.
Flora of the World is committed to fostering collaboration and engagement with the global botanical community. By sharing high-quality images of plants in their native habitats, the project aims to support researchers, educators, conservationists, and plant enthusiasts alike. Through continued partnership and shared expertise, Flora of the World seeks to inspire deeper appreciation, understanding, and stewardship of plant biodiversity.