The Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) is an online database of all published names of Australian vascular plants. It covers all names, whether current names, synonyms or invalid names. It includes bibliographic and typification details, information from the Census of Australian Vascular Plants including distribution by state, links to other resources such as specimen collection maps, and the facility for notes and comments on other aspects.

Recognised by Australian herbaria as the authoritative source for Australian plant nomenclature, it is the core component of Australia's Virtual Herbarium, a collaborative project with A$10 million funding, aimed at providing integrated online access to the data and specimen collections of Australia's major herbaria

Herbarium

In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...

.

Two query interfaces are offered:

• Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), a full query interface that delivers full results, with no automatic interpretation, and
• What's Its Name (WIN), a less powerful query interface that delivers concise results, augmented with automatic (and not always correct) inference as to the currency.

Originally the brainchild of Nancy Tyson Burbidge

Nancy Tyson Burbidge

Nancy Tyson Burbidge AO was an Australian systemic botanist, conservationist and herbarium curator.Burbidge was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire; her father, William Burbidge, was an Anglican clergyman and immigrated to Australia in 1913 when he was appointed to a parish in Western Australia...

, it began as a four-volume printed work consisting of 3,055 pages, and containing over 60,000 plant names. Compiled by Arthur Chapman

Arthur Chapman

Arthur Chapman was an early twentieth century American poet and newspaper columnist. He wrote a sub-genre of American poetry known as Cowboy Poetry. His most famous poem was Out Where the West Begins.-External links:...

, it was part of the Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Biological Resources Study is a project undertaken by Parks Australia Division of Australia's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts ....

 (ABRS). In 1991 it was made available as an online database, and handed over to the Australian National Botanic Gardens

Australian National Botanic Gardens

The Australian National Botanic Gardens are located in Canberra and are administered by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment and Heritage....

. Two years later, responsibility for its maintenance has given to the newly formed Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research.

See also

• The Plant List
  The Plant List
  The Plant List is a list of botanical names of species of plants, available on the world wide web. It was created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden...
  
  
• Botanical nomenclature
  Botanical nomenclature
  Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical...
  
  
• Index Kewensis
  Index Kewensis
  The Index Kewensis , maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a publication that aims to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and genera...
  
  
• International Plant Names Index

External links

• Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) (full detail search)
• What's Its Name (WIN) (full detail search)