{{Short description|Plant species in a given region}}
{{Other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2009}}
[[File:Flora.png|frame|right|Simplified schematic of an island's flora all its plant species, highlighted in boxes]]
'''Flora''' ({{plural form}}: '''floras''' or '''florae''') is all the [[plant]] life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ([[indigenous (ecology)|indigenous]]) [[native plant|native plants.]] The corresponding term for [[animals]] is ''[[fauna]]'', and for [[fungi]], it is ''[[funga]]''.[{{Cite journal |last1=Kuhar |first1=Francisco |last2=Furci |first2=Giuliana |last3=Drechsler-Santos |first3=Elisandro Ricardo |last4=Pfister |first4=Donald H. |date=December 2018 |title=Delimitation of Funga as a valid term for the diversity of fungal communities: the Fauna, Flora & Funga proposal (FF&F) |url=https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/BF03449441 |journal=IMA Fungus |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=A71–A74 |doi=10.1007/BF03449441 |issn=2210-6359|hdl=11336/88035 |hdl-access=free }}] Sometimes [[bacteria]] and [[fungi]] are also referred to as flora as in the terms ''[[gut flora]]'' or ''[[skin flora]]'' for purposes of specificity.[{{cite web |url=http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=flora |title=flora |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=2006-05-03 |archive-date=2006-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430072626/http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=flora |url-status=live }}][{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bitn/97-007/pdf/bitn97-007.pdf |author1=Clifford E. Starliper |author2=Rita Villella |author3=Patricia Morrison |author4=Jay Mathais |title=Sampling the bacterial flora of freshwater mussels |access-date=2014-01-02 |archive-date=2016-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201051144/http://pubs.usgs.gov/bitn/97-007/pdf/bitn97-007.pdf |url-status=live }}][{{cite book|author1=John, D.M. |author2=Whitton, B.A. |author3=Brook, A.J. |year=2002|title=The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles: An Identification Guide to Freshwater and Terrestrial Algae|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521770514|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc4897dfM_MC}}]
==Etymology==
The word "flora" comes from the [[Latin]] name of [[Flora (mythology)|Flora]], the [[goddess]] of [[plant]]s, [[flower]]s, and fertility in [[Roman mythology]].[{{cite book|last1=Daly|first1=Kathleen N. |others=Revised by Marian Rengel |title=Greek and Roman mythology, A to Z|date=2009|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|location=New York|isbn=978-1604134124|edition=3rd}}][{{Cite book |title=Flora - inside the secret world of plants |date=October 2018 |publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=9780241254806 |location=Great Britain}}] The technical term "flora" is then derived from a [[metonymy]] of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century.[{{Cite journal|last=Berrens|first=Dominik|date=2019-03-21|title=The Meaning of Flora|journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia. Journal of Neo-Latin Studies|language=en|volume=68|issue=1|pages=237–249|doi=10.30986/2019.237|issn=2593-3019|doi-access=free}}]
The distinction between [[vegetation]] (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by [[Jules Thurmann]] (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used interchangeably.[Thurmann, J. (1849). ''Essai de Phytostatique appliqué à la chaîne du Jura et aux contrées voisines.'' Berne: Jent et Gassmann, [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/51540#/summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002105310/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/51540#/summary|date=2017-10-02}}.][Martins, F. R. & Batalha, M. A. (2011). Formas de vida, espectro biológico de Raunkiaer e fisionomia da vegetação. In: Felfili, J. M., Eisenlohr, P. V.; Fiuza de Melo, M. M. R.; Andrade, L. A.; Meira Neto, J. A. A. (Org.). ''Fitossociologia no Brasil: métodos e estudos de caso.'' Vol. 1. Viçosa: Editora UFV. p. 44–85. [http://files.hisaias.webnode.com/200000112-37f2239e9a/Cap%202.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924062109/http://files.hisaias.webnode.com/200000112-37f2239e9a/Cap%202.pdf|date=2016-09-24}}. Earlier version, 2003, [http://www2.ib.unicamp.br/profs/fsantos/bt682/2003/Apostila-FormasVida-2003.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827014258/http://www2.ib.unicamp.br/profs/fsantos/bt682/2003/Apostila-FormasVida-2003.pdf|date=2016-08-27}}.]
==Classifications==
Plants are grouped into floras based on region ([[Phytochorion|floristic regions]]), period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be distinct [[habitat]]s like mountain vs. flatland. Floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in ''fossil flora''. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments:
*''Native flora''. The native and indigenous flora of an area.
*''Agricultural and horticultural flora (garden flora)''. The plants that are deliberately grown by humans.
*''Weed flora''. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants regarded as undesirable and studied in efforts to control or eradicate them. Today the designation is less often used as a classification of plant life since it includes three different types of plants: [[weed]]y species, [[invasive species]] (that may or may not be weedy), and native and introduced non-weedy species that are agriculturally undesirable. Many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various [[ecosystem]]s.
==Documentation==
[[File:WGSRPD World.svg|thumb|upright=2|The botanical continents of the [[World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions]], used for classifying floras geographically]]
{{Main|Flora (publication)}}
[[File:Floristic regions in Europe (english).png|thumb|right|Floristic regions in Europe according to Wolfgang Frey and Rainer Lösch]]
The flora of a particular area or time period can be documented in a publication also known as a "[[Flora (publication)|flora]]" (often capitalized as "Flora" to distinguish the two meanings when they might be confused). Floras may require specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness. Traditionally they are [[book]]s, but some are now published on [[CD-ROM]] or [[website]]s.
[[Simon Paulli]]'s ''Flora Danica'' of 1648 is probably the first book titled "Flora" to refer to the plant world of a certain region. It mainly describes medicinal plants growing in Denmark. The ''[[Flora Sinensis]]'' by the Polish [[Jesuit]] [[Michał Boym]] is another early example of a book titled "Flora".[[http://webapps.fundp.ac.be/moretus/flora_sinensis/index_flora_sinensis.html Flora Sinensis] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206180105/http://webapps.fundp.ac.be/moretus/flora_sinensis/index_flora_sinensis.html |date=2010-02-06 }} (access to the facsimile of the book, its French translation, and an article about it)] However, despite its title it covered not only plants but also some animals of the region, that is China and India.