Corresponding author: Deirdre Ryan (
Academic editor:
Global Plants (
Global Plants is the outcome of the African Plants Initiative (API), the Latin American Plants Initiative (LAPI) and the Global Plants Initiative (GPI) which was funded generously by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for over a decade. The vision of creating a digital library of type specimen images and related material available to students and researchers around the world has largely been realized. What has the impact been on herbaria? What is the status of digitization across the partner institutions such as NYBG? How can we continue to keep the network flourishing and ensure all partners can continue to contribute? How has/has the financial model worked to achieve the correct balance between accessibility and sustainability?
Looking to the future, we are interested in exploring how the foundation established by Global Plants can be built upon to explore future digital projects that both support and expand upon the existing field of researchers. Existing initiatives include “Global Plants in the Classroom: Botany 101” (
Deirdre Ryan
ITHAKA/JSTOR
ITHAKA/JSTOR