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Welcome to the Homepage of the Madagascar Catalogue
        
The Vahinala Project aims to assimilate information on all native and naturalized vascular plant species in Madagascar, evaluating the available taxonomic literature and specimen base for each taxon. The primary result of the project is the Catalogue of the Plants of Madagascar, an online database. The Missouri Botanical Garden leads the Project in collaboration with numerous institutional and individual partners. We completed a synonymized list of accepted species in 2008 and in 2012 we have completed the taxonomic evaluation of the majority of all genera and compiled distributional, ecological, and conservation status information for most well-circumscribed accepted species (View Project Milestones). In 2017 we added a preliminary checklist of bryophyte species, and changed the name of the website from the Catalogue of Vascular Plants of Madagascar to it's current name.
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| Using the Madagascar Catalogue (MadCat) - The pale green horizontal Menu Bar provides access to basic search functions and standard TROPICOS links, while links on the pale green vertical Navigation Bar provides links to data browsing options, and to advance search options. A quick search for any plant name can most conveniently be made from the Taxon Name box on the Navigation Bar. The 'Search Builder' generates species lists based on multiple project attributes including a keyword search on a taxon name, thus generating a list restricted to a certain family or genus by specifying this name in the Keyword search box. Image Search accesses all images on TROPICOS, while the Project Query Builder is available only to logged-in users (Project Login access is normally only provided to project personnel and contributors).
On most pages in the upper right corner the words 'Choose Project' appear, providing links that enable the user to switch between a Madagascar Catalogue Project view and a standard TROPICOS view, or to the corresponding page in other TROPICOS Projects. Click on the Catalogue of the Plants of Madagascar header at any time to return to the Project Homepage.
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Citation of this database:
Madagascar Catalogue, . Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, U.S.A. & Antananarivo, Madagascar [http://www.efloras.org/madagascar. Accessed: , ]. |
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| Publication of the Red List of Threatened Malagasy Plant Species. In conjunction with the Malagasy Plant Specialist Group of the IUCN, we have been undertaking Threat Analysis and Conservation Status evaluations of Malagasy Vascular plants. To date approximately 3,000 evaluation have been completed, and in May 2011 a first plant Red List for Madagascar was published. It includes 1,676 species assessed as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered.
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Plant Themes. We are developing a series of MadCat special interest themes accessible through the 'Plant Themes' link on the Navigation Bar, or through the 'Search Builder'. These currently include:
The New Website. We switched to presenting MadCat on the new TROPICOS project facility in March 2010. Thanks go to the project team for their hardworke, and the IT Division in St Louis. New functionality is added gradually, watch for future developments. Among the more recent additions, each with a link on the sidebar, we urge users to try out:
- Fern Names: an index to the Ferns of Madagascar
- Specimens with Vernacular Names: an link to nearly 20,000 specimen records from Madagascar with vernacular name information
- Geographic Search: delivers a Google map on which localities for specimens of specific families and genera can be searched. Zoom in to particular portions of the map and use the 'Click to use manual coordinates' followed by 'Sync coordinates with map' to return results for a particular site
Note also the icons that appear to the left of taxon names. These provide direct links in other databases for the name concerned.
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| What's New?
Higher Level Taxonomic Summary and Status Directory Completed. For all plant families and higher levels a taxonomic summary was completed in June 2011, and updated as new information is incorporated into the database. It provides information on the taxonomic status of the group, including species numbers and endemicity taxon by taxon, and has links to image galleries for genera and higher levels.
Candollea Notes. The fourth in a new series of taxonomic notes on the Malagasy flora edited by project personnel and collaborators will be published in the twice-yearly journal of Geneva Botanical Garden and Herbarium. The first appeared in December, 2010. To date 25 short articles have been published dealing with diverse plant groups including:
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Arecaceae
Pandanaceae
Brackenridgea
Capuronia
Cissus
Croton
Cyperus
Didymoplexis
Diospyros
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Garcinia
Hetaeria
Indigofera
Korthalsella
Memecylon
Mimulopsis
Mimusops
Nervilia
Ochna
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Peltophorum
Psychotria
Rhodocolea
Stereospermum
Tabernaemontana
Tina
Vernoniopsis
Xerochlamys
...read more and access series index
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More than 15,360 images of Malagasy plants currently available (May, 2012), including 11395 photos of living plants and with more being added regularly. MadCat is richly illustrated with photos and high resolution scans of specimens.
See a selection of some of our favorite Malagasy plants but clicking on the image below (and find out what it is!), or search using the Images link on the horizontal menu bar or use the Image Galleries links on the sidebar for more image search options.
Links to images for all higher taxa are available on all Family and Order pages, see for example: Fabaceae or Lamiales.
...information on this and other selected images
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Key Resources
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Last update: 29 May 2017
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