Kew / TDWG floras
based on Kew Gardens' POWO species list and TDWG's WGSRPD lvl.2 geographical areas

  • Table of contents

  • Summary

    Pl@ntNet is migrating its taxonomic backbone to new floras (aka. "projects") ensuring a better world coverage.
    Internally known as "KT", those new floras are based on Plants Of The World Online (POWO) checklist provided by Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, and Geographical areas defined by level 2 of World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD), a TDWG standard.

    Thematic floras such as "Useful plants", "Invasive plants", "Crops" will be kept, as well as floras dedicated to local areas of interest such as "Cévennes", "Ordesa", "LEWA in KENYA".

    This change comes along with a change in the identification engine. Thematic floras that were already present can optionally benefit from the new engine.

    See /projects API route for the complete floras lists (KT and legacy).

    You have 5 months from May 1st 2023 to update your code to be compatible with the new floras. While you'll still be able to use the legacy floras after this period of time, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of the changes and update your client software where necessary. Depending on the usage you make of the API, it's possible that no change is required. Please make the necessary checks to ensure that your code will keep working after 5 months.
    Please note that the identification model used with legacy floras will not be updated anymore.

  • Differences

    These new floras are based on a unified species list, which in general is a great benefit.

    Despite a great effort of taxonomic alignment, the following situations may happen:

    • A species name that was present in legacy floras is absent in KT floras
    • A species name that was present in legacy floras has a different spelling in KT floras (usually author name)
    • A species name that was present in legacy floras is now considered a synonym of another species in KT floras
    • A species name that was present in a geographical area in legacy floras is absent in the equivalent geographical area in KT floras

  • What changes now (May 1st 2023)

    You can now start using new floras (see parameters below).
    Nothing changes for now if you don't change your code.
    After 5 months from May 1st 2023, new floras will be enabled by default (see "What will change next" below). Start updating your code now!

    A new parameter type is available on API routes /identify, /projects and /species.
    Setting type=legacy allows to carry on using floras you're used to. This will be the default behaviour from May 1st 2023 to October 1st 2023.
    Setting type=kt switches to the new floras, allowing you to benefit from the changes. This will be the default behaviour from October 1st 2023.

    Important: on /identify routes, type=kt will only work if you're using project all (automatically use the most relevant project/flora), or a thematic flora which is present in both legacy and new floras lists (ex: useful). If you specify a flora that is present either in the legacy floras list or in the new floras list but not both (for ex. weurope or k-southwestern-europe), type parameter will be ignored and automatically adjusted.

    Recap:

    • /v2/projects → no change
    • /v2/projects?type=legacy → no change
    • /v2/projects?type=kt → new floras!

    • /v2/species → no change
    • /v2/species?type=legacy → no change
    • /v2/species?type=kt → species from new floras!

    • /v2/identify/all → no change
    • /v2/identify/all?type=legacy → no change
    • /v2/identify/all?type=kt → new floras!
    • /v2/identify/weurope → no change
    • /v2/identify/weurope?type=legacy → no change
    • /v2/identify/weurope?type=kt → no change
    • /v2/identify/useful → no change
    • /v2/identify/useful?type=legacy → no change
    • /v2/identify/useful?type=kt → new engine!

    "no change" means you get legacy results: you don't benefit from new model nor from new species list.

  • What will change next (October 1st 2023)

    As of October 1st 2023, new floras will be enabled by default.
    THIS IS A BREAKING CHANGE

    This means that every identification request sent to project all will use new floras.
    Especially, you might get results containing new species names, or species names having a slightly different spelling than they used to.
    You will have to specify type=legacy to carry on identifying with legacy floras.

    Also, /projects and /species routes will return KT floras and species by default. You will have to specify type=legacy to get legacy floras and species list.