Plants of the World Online (POWO)

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a UK national botanic garden and plant-science institution in London, holding one of the world’s largest herbaria and a research programme devoted to naming and mapping the world’s plants. POWO is its public taxonomic reference, published from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) that Kew maintains: the accepted name, full synonymy, and the native / introduced distribution (TDWG botanical-country resolution) for ~1.4 million names. Plotwright’s region-appropriate primary botanical authority for European and global flora - and a reliable native-range source for species (hybrids, tropical, neotropical) that a US extension toolbox does not profile.

What you'll find here

Specific data we draw from it: accepted name (IPNI fqId), synonymy, native distribution (TDWG regions), introduced distribution (TDWG regions).

Good to know

Synonymy honesty. When a familiar horticultural name (e.g. Tibouchina granulosa) is a synonym of the accepted name (Pleroma granulosum), surface the accepted name alongside the recognised one rather than silently picking one.

Distribution scope. POWO distribution is native-range botany at TDWG botanical-country resolution - regional context, not a garden hardiness statement; pair with a horticultural source for cultivation.

Where the authorities differ. Kew and GBIF do not always agree on the accepted name. Kew adopts genus splits and rank changes as they are published, while the GBIF backbone is slower to follow, so a plant can be accepted under one name at Kew and a different one at GBIF. Where that happens the plant page names both and says which it uses, rather than quietly picking a winner.

How to cite this source

Cite the specific taxon page (https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/<IPNI-fqId>); record the accepted name when the cited name is a synonym.

License

POWO content is © Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, released under CC BY 3.0; factual taxonomy + distribution are not copyrightable but attribution to Kew/POWO is required.

POWO is a botanical (taxonomy + native-range) authority, not a cultivation guide - it tells you what a plant is and where it grows wild, not how to grow it. Distribution is wild native range, not cultivated or naturalised garden performance.

Cited by 564 plants

Cited by wildlife

No wildlife record cites this source yet.