Fifteen Years with the Computer: Assessment of the "Precis" Taxonomic System

• Published in: Taxon Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 178 - 195
• Main Authors: G. E. Gibbs Russell, Arnold, T. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin International Bureau for Plant Taxonomy and Nomenclature 01-05-1989; International Association for Plant Taxonomy
• Subjects: Approximation; Biological and medical sciences; Biomes; Data files; Flora; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects, nomenclature, methods, herbaria; Herbaria; Plant cytology, morphology, systematics, chorology and evolution; Plant names; Plants; Specimens; Taxa; Herbarium; Computer program; Geographic distribution; Taxonomy; Nomenclature; Africa; Vegetation; South Africa; Computer aid
• ISSN: 0040-0262; 1996-8175
• DOI: 10.2307/1220833

PRECIS (Pretoria National Herbarium Computerized Information System) is designed to provide information about plants in southern Africa, a region that lacks a completed modern flora. The system now consists of four separate but linked components: Specimen, Taxon, Nomenclatural and Curatorial. The "PRECIS experiment" covers an estimated nine per cent of the world's plant species. It provides a broad and continuously up-to-date overview of the southern African flora as well as detailed information about particular species, specimens and localities. PRECIS results have wide applicability in taxonomic and vegetation studies, and could not have been obtained without computerization.