Iris hymenospatha. Photo M. Zarrei

The emonocot Team

Background

• Started late 2010

• Funded by NERC via

consortium grant

• Large scale, coherent,

sustainable taxonomically

based information

resource on the monocots

• Primarily aimed towards

biodiversity scientists

• Why monocots?Fritillaria raddeana. Photo M. Zarrei

Aims

1. Aid identification of monocots

worldwide

2. Provide wealth of information about

monocot taxa

3. Separately address the needs of

different users

4. Link together monocot taxonomists to

enhance productivity

5. Provide a model for web taxonomy

Lysichiton americanum. Photo I.

Kitching

Organisation

Content team: Kew

• Content development

• Integration with strategic & ICT

programmes

• Post project sustainability

ICT team: Oxford

• Software development

• Link with bioinformatics & eScience

Outreach team: Natural History Museum

• Scratchpad functionality

• Extension to Zoology

• Web metricsDioscorea dodecaneura fruit

Photo A. Popovkin

Existing resources

CATE-Araceae (www.cate-araceae.org)

• 104 genera, c. 4000 species

Palmweb (www.palmweb.org)

• 190 genera, c. 2600 species

GrassBase (www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html)

• C.700 genera, 11,611 species

World Checklist (www.kew.org/wcsp/monocots)

• C.70,000 species Monstera adansonii

Photo I. Andrade

Deliverables

APGIII families key/pages (77 families)

Generic keys/pages (c.2100 genera):• Araceae [CATE-Araceae]

• Arecaceae [Palmweb]

• Asparagaceae

• Cyperaceae

• Dioscoreaceae

• Liliaceae

• Orchidaceae

• Poaceae [GrassBase]

Species level resources: • European Monocots (c.2000 spp)

• Cypripedioideae (c.130 spp)

• Sampled Red List Index Project (1500 spp)Carex juvenlis

Photo Dave Simpson

Cyperaceae one

of eight key

families

Expected outputs:

• Key to genera

• Genus pages – all genera worldwide

• Species pages for European Cyperaceae

• Species pages for Sampled Red List Index Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae community can contribute much more

Content Progress

Developing keys in LUCID: Monocot families

Content Progress

Developing keys in LUCID: Dioscoreaceae

Content Progress

Developing keys in LUCID: Cypripedioideae

Cypripedium kentuckiense.

Photo N. Turland

Content Progress Identifying content sources and acquiring content; an

administration database has been constructed.

Content Progress

• Report on communities and

content

• Establishing a collaborative

link with the Swiss Orchid

Foundation to deliver Orchid

content

• Dioscoreaceae scratchpad

in development

Dactylorhiza praetermissa. Photo I. Kitching

Content Progress - Cyperaceae

ProtologuesLinks to BHL: 611

Digitised: 214

Taxon descriptions 104 generic descriptions from Kubitzki

9 additional genera about to be

processed

35 species descriptions from Sedges

of the British Isles (out of 106)

Mapania mangenotiana. Photo A . Mesterhazy

ICT progress

• Stakeholder survey

• Documentation of existing systems

• Existing systems functionality workshop

• Content documentation

• Data exchange standards, tools & technologies documentation

• emonocot design work

Iris acutiloba Photo M. Zarrei

ICT progress

Prototype architecture

• Portal plus data editing system

• Scratchpad role

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae

contributors

Outreach Progress

• Impact plan – UK monocot ID

guide

• Lyme Regis Fossil Festival

• Developing links to UK

biodiversity scientists &

volunteer scientists

Monocot guided walk

Photo Ed Baker

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Photo Paul Wilkin

Outreach Progress

Workshops for Monocot

systematists

• Call for proposals in

Summer 2011

• First workshop in

Chicago in September:

Carex

Subsequent workshops in

London & potentially

worldwide in late 2011 &

2012Iris reticulata. Photo

M. Zarrei

In summary…

• Significant progress in all

project areas

• Much more work to do

Allium ursinum

Website

http://e-monocot.org

Crocus sieberi & Scilla bifolia

• Flora of Thailand

• Flora Malesiana

• Flora of Peninsular

Malaysia

• Flora of Vietnam

• Nothing for Cambodia or

Laos

Thailand and Malaysia