The World Flora Online (WFO) provides an open-access, web-based Flora for all known species of vascular plants and bryophytes. Serving as a continuously updated, expert-curated resource, it consolidates names, synonymy, and associated content into a single platform, thereby improving global access to taxonomic data and reducing the regional and geopolitical barriers that have historically constrained the field (Borsch worldfloraonline.org). However, gathering morphological, nomenclatural, and distributional data for c. 400,000 species across 721 plant families is an enormous task. An even greater challenge is reconciling databases and validating hundreds of thousands of names, including the synonymy attached to currently accepted species. To meet this need, WFO is coordinating a global network of specialists, inviting them to form Taxonomic Expert Networks (TENs). These teams are being organised to curate families of vascular plants and bryophytes, aiming to cover all families eventually (Korotkova, 2022; Liede-Schumann, 2024; Kiefer Nepomuceno are widespread in tropical and temperate zones; and taxonomically diverse, with c. 2000 species in 57 genera, including the species-rich Ipomoea with about 650 species. From the Convolvulaceae Network to the TEN, taking on the taxonomic challenge came naturally: of roughly 114 members, 19 taxonomists from 11 countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, and the U.S.A., formalised the proposal and assumed responsibility for Convolvulaceae names in WFO. The TEN provides voluntary service to the broader community by identifying and analysing overlooked taxonomic and nomenclatural issues at a global scale; resolving intricate synonymy across regions; addressing inconsistencies among major databases such as Tropicos (https://www.tropicos.org) and POWO (https://powo.science.kew.org/); and harmonising species and generic taxonomy across regional Floras. These efforts support a better-curated and more stable classification, which is essential for applied work such as crop research and for evolutionary and phylogenetic studies that depend on a robust taxonomic framework. The Convolvulaceae Network began after Ana Rita Simões and Lauren Eserman met online in 2018 and then at Botany 2019 in Tucson, catalysing a Skype-based group that grew from a 24-hour launch event in September 2019 into a standing programme. It now runs biweekly online seminars that alternate with TEN meetings, counts about 160 members from 36 countries across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, and keeps its mailing list open for wider participation (Fig. 1). The community emphasises inclusion, accessibility, and collaboration, with time-zone flexibility, talks available on request in Portuguese, French, Spanish, and other languages, and workshops on Convolvulaceae identification, IUCN Red Listing, genomic methods, and the use of natural history collections. A coordination team invites and hosts speakers, manages communications, and shares details via the website, social media, and email; sessions are recorded or made public only with speaker permission. Outputs include the seminar series since 2019, participation as a WFO Taxonomic Expert Network, collaborative publications including a Rheedea special issue in December 2024, in-person meetings at pre-IBC Paris, IBC Madrid 2024, and AETFAT Accra 2025, and a major meeting planned for Mexico in 2026. The group maintains regular communication through a dedicated messaging group (WhatsApp) and a mailing list (Table 1), where we discuss technical queries and debate taxonomic and nomenclatural questions. We provide monthly progress updates and schedule additional virtual meetings ahead of release windows. Releases occur twice yearly, aligned with the summer and winter solstices. These meetings also serve for onboarding new members, demonstrating Rhakhis, which is the taxonomic backbone of the WFO (The World Flora Online Consortium (2) review all names within the family and update classification as new evidence emerges; (3) maintain a framework that reflects current phylogenetic knowledge and expert consensus, integrating traditional taxonomy with recent systematic revisions; (4) incorporate regional treatments, grey literature, and floristic expertise for comprehensive global coverage; (5) foster a collaborative process to resolve competing classifications, unsettled genera, and naming conflicts, documenting decisions and outstanding issues through checklists, guidelines, and periodic reports; and (6) build capacity by involving early-career researchers in nomenclature, data curation, authorship, and collaborative revisions to ensure continuity of expertise.
Simões et al. (Fri,) studied this question.