Research Training Program

Gay Christensen-Dean
Wright State University
Dayton, OH

Robert DeFilipps, Ph.D.
Project Advisor
Department of Botany

"Being a Smithsonian intern allowed a behind-the-scenes look at science in action."

Checklist of Medicinal Plants of the Guianas

This project involved the design of a data base and the entry of species records as a start for the accumulation of data for the endangered and useful plants of the Guianas project. All of the species references were entered from Plotkin's doctoral dissertation "Ethobotany and Conservation of the Tropical Forest with Special Reference to the Indians of Southern Surinam." 651 species records were created from this reference. It will provide a good base for further accumulation of data because it is the largest reference to be used in the project. In the future more records will be added from other sources, and as more information is obtained, it will be added to the already existing records too. This will yield a complete, up to date, and easily accessible center of information for the flora of the Guianas.