Towards an online checklist of the vascular plants of Georgia (the Caucasus)

Georgia is a floristically diverse and biogeographically complex country within the Caucasus region. It has a long history of botanical exploration, resulting in a substantial body of floristic literature. Nevertheless, taxonomic knowledge remains uneven, and many existing floristic works are partly or largely outdated, and therefore of limited use for biodiversity research and conservation. We present the concept, scope, and editorial framework for an ongoing project to develop a new, modern, dynamic online checklist of the vascular plants of Georgia. The checklist will compile available floristic and taxonomic literature and include native and naturalised taxa at the family, genus, species, and subspecies ranks. Particular attention will be given to a conservative treatment of endemics and range-restricted species, as well as the transparent documentation of taxonomic uncertainty. The checklist is intended to serve as a modern, foundational taxonomic baseline rather than a full-scale revision, and will be continuously expanded and updated.