The information for a particular species consists of the following. At this stage, some items are missing or incomplete.
The authority is abbreviated in accordance with the standard published in Brummitt & Powell (1992).
The species number set out in Kent (1992).
Included under this term are not only true synonyms but misapplied names and spelling variants.
In the English names, we have followed a general pattern of capitalising the first word but not the second, e.g. Velvet bushwillow. In a few, rare, cases, we have done something different if the result so produced is ridiculous for some reason.
The codes used are as follows:
A Afrikaans
E English
H Shangaan
N Ndebele
Nd Ndau
S Shona
T Tonga
A subjective impression, using the following simple scale: common, frequent, occasional, local, rare.
Plants are classified as a native, archaeophyte, neophyte or casual.
A native plant is one that grows in an area without having been deliberately or accidentally introduced by mankind. Though the majority of these plants have been in Britain for thousands of years, this category also includes hybrids and new taxa that were generated naturally within the area. Naturally-formed hybrids are regarded as native, irrespective of whether their parents were introduced by mankind.
An archaeophyte is a naturalised plant that was introduced by mankind before AD1500.
A neophyte is a naturalised plant that was introduced by mankind after AD1500.
The above definitions have been extracted from this site.
A casual is a introduced species which does not persist and requires repeated re-introduction.
The taxa are placed in one of four categories:
A1 Those in the List of Vascular Plants of the British Isles (1992) by D.H. Kent, updated to 2000.
A2 The extra taxa in the New Flora of the British Isles ed.2 (1997) by C.A. Stace.
A3 The taxa extra to the above 2 categories in both Alien Plants of the British Isles (1994) by E.J. Clement & M.C. Foster, and Alien Grasses of the British Isles (1996) by T.B. Ryves, E.J. Clement & M.C. Foster.
AC Charophytes.
In drawing up the descriptions of families and genera, these have often been widened to take account of species outside the flora area. However, where all the species in the flora area have a specific character, this has often been noted in the descriptions by the phrase "(in our species)" or simply "(in ours)", thus reducing the space taken up by irrelevant information.
In the descriptions, reference to an unqualified measurement is to the length of an object. A reference to (for example) 4-5 × 1-2 cm, means the length is 4-5 cm and the width is 1-2 cm. Measurements enclosed in brackets (for example: leaves 7-10(-15) cm) are exceptional cases outside the normal range; however, even these measurements may not be the absolute extremes.
The length of the species descriptions is variable and is generally longer in the larger families and genera. The species descriptions usually exclude characters already mentioned under the genus; both must be read. Important features have been placed in italics for emphasis.
An explanation, where known, of the scientific species name is given.
This is given as a range in metres. Note that at present, many of the altitude ranges are incomplete or provisional and further information may well extend these considerably.
For each family, genus and species, the total worldwide number of genera and/or species is given, together with a brief summary of the worldwide distribution. This information has been extracted from various sources, often either from FZ or from Mabberley (1997).
| Symbol | Meaning |
| A | Annual |
| B | Biennial |
| C | Climber |
| E | Epiphyte |
| L | Liane |
| Lp | Lithophyte |
| P | Herbaceous perennial |
| S | Shrub over 2 m |
| s | Shrub under 2 m |
| T | Tree |
| Te | Terrestrial (used in Orchidaceae and ferns only) |
Information about species of insects whose larvae eat the particular plant species was sometimes available.
This is a slot for miscellaneous information about the species which is not dealt with elsewhere.