FlorItaly-the portal to the flora of Italy

Digital data concerning the flora of Italy are largely fragmented among different resources hosted on different platforms, and often with different data standards, which are neither connected by a common access point, nor by web services, thus constituting a relevant obstacle to data access and usage. Taxonomic incongruences add a further complication. This paper describes "FlorItaly", an online information system which allows to access and query updated information on the checklist of the flora of Italy, aiming at becoming an aggregator for Italian botanical resources. "FlorItaly" was developed in a collaborative effort by more than 50 taxonomists, with the support of the Italian Botanical Society, and of Project "Dryades" (University of Trieste), to provide a better and reliable organization of botanical knowledge in Italy, as well as a relevant simplification for data retrieval, and a further stimulus towards a more collaborative approach in botanical research.