A little wonder, every day

Known plant-species counts are dated estimates

Вельвічія — приклад голонасінної судинної рослини; фото не показує всю різноманітність рослин / Welwitschia is an example of a vascular gymnosperm; this photo does not represent all plant diversity. Credit: dune_ninja; CC0. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=184919029

Орхідея — приклад квіткової судинної рослини; не новий вид, відкритий саме 2016 року / An orchid exemplifies vascular flowering plants; it is not a species newly discovered in 2016. Credit: sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; CC BY 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=75037226

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Вельвічія — приклад голонасінної судинної рослини; фото не показує всю різноманітність рослин / Welwitschia is an example of a vascular gymnosperm; this photo does not represent all plant diversity. Credit: dune_ninja; CC0. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=184919029

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Kew’s 2016 report estimated about 390,900 vascular plant species known to science, including roughly 369,400 flowering plants. This is a dated estimate for a defined group, rather than an unchanging count of all Earth’s plants. New species continue to be described, while taxonomic research may also merge or separate previously recognized species. The number of names also differs from the number of species because one species can have scientific synonyms.