Description
Botany, like other branches of western science, has its roots in ancient Greece, with Theophrastos of Eressos (372-287 B.C.) generally considered to have been the first botanist. Modern botanical studies in the area started with the travels of John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer in 1786-1787, the results of which were subsequently published in the great Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana, appearing in ten heavy folio volumes in the period 1806-1840. An annotated re-issue was prepared by Strid & Strid (2009-2013). For a brief history of the botanical exploration of Greece from the time of Sibthorp to the present, see Strid (2020a).
The present Atlas covers the whole of Greece. Maps have been generated from the Flora Hellenica Database which was started in 1989 and now comprises 1,052,338 geo-referenced records, 436,353 of which have been registered by the present author. Records in the database comprise 502,882 herbarium collections and 321,759 literature reports, the rest being field notes, photographs, etc.
This Atlas will provide a baseline for future studies of Greek biodiversity.
