A Checklist of Vascular Plants in Laos, the most detailed baseline work on the country’s plant diversity to date, has been recently published by China Forestry Publishing House. It marks a key phased achievement in the ongoing project to compile the Flora of Laos, led by the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG).

The checklist is co-edited by Li Bo, Zhu Renbin, Xing Yaowu of XTBG, and Dr. Phetlasy Souladeth of the National University of Laos. Academician Sun Hang contributed the foreword. It records 7,212 species (including infraspecific taxa) of vascular plants in Laos, belonging to 252 families and 1,770 genera.

For each taxon, the checklist provides the scientific name, Lao name, and Chinese name, along with provincial distribution records within Laos. Entries are ordered by Lao name, followed by Chinese and English translations.

At the family level, the checklist adopts currently accepted phylogenetic systems: the PPG II system for ferns, Prof. Yang Yong’s (Nanjing Forestry University) system for gymnosperms, and the APG IV system for angiosperms.

Located at the heart of the Indochina Peninsula, Laos forms a core part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Its unique geographical setting and complex geological history have given rise to an exceptionally rich flora, with angiosperms alone estimated at 8,000–10,000 species.

However, historical surveys have been limited. The last comprehensive checklist by French botanist Jules Vidal in 1959 listed only about 2,000 species. Subsequent updates by multinational scholars gradually raised that number, culminating in a 2016 checklist by Korean researcher You Mi Lee and colleagues that included over 5,200 species. Yet even that compilation failed to capture the many new discoveries and taxonomic revisions made over the past decade.

“Our work fills a critical data gap. It provides essential baseline data for future field expeditions, taxonomic research, and biodiversity assessments in Laos,” said Xing Yaowu, director of XTBG.