Southern Africa has a total of 225 plant families with the 52 largest families covering over 90% of the flora. A book entitled ‘Plant Families of southern Africa’ was published in 2013 to review the 52 largest families. This book aims to introduce readers to the beauty and diversity of our fascinating flora, and to enable scholars, students, amateurs and professionals alike to identify plants to family level. This key is an adaptation of the contents of the book into an interactive tool.
Key characters for identification of each family are illustrated by photographs and each family is further illustrated by photographs of representative members of that family. Although the key focuses on southern African members of the families, it will also be useful in other parts of Africa and the world.