A Flora is a book or other work which describes the plant species occurring in an area or time period, often with the aim of allowing identification. The term is usually capitalized to distinguish it from the use of "flora" to mean the plants rather than their descriptions. Some classic and modern Floras are listed below. Traditionally Floras are books, but some are now published on CD-ROM or websites. The area that a Flora covers can be either geographically or politically defined. Floras usually require some specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness. A Flora often contains diagnostic keys. Often these are dichotomous keys, which require the user to repeatedly examine a plant, and decide which one of two alternatives given in the Flora best applies to the plant. Floras produced at a local or regional level rarely contain identification keys. Instead they aim to impart more detailed understanding of the local status and distribution of that area's plants. Maps showing species distribution may be included, and nowadays are computer-generated from biological databases. Specific reference may be made to new arrivals and historic records in order to impart understanding of the changes in an area's vegetation over time. Classic Floras Europe Sylva Hercynia, Johannes Thal. Germany 1588 Hortus Lusatiae, Johannes Franke. Germany 1594 Stirpium et fossilium Silesiae Catalogus, Caspar Schwenckfeldt. Germany 1600 Flora Londinensis, William Curtis. England 1777–1798 Flora Graeca, John Sibthorp. (England) 1806–1840 Flora Danica, Simon Paulli. Denmark, 1847. Flora Jenensis, Heinrich Bernhard Rupp Germany, 1718. Flora Suecica, Carl Linnaeus. 1745. India Hortus indicus malabaricus, Hendrik van Rheede 1683–1703 Indonesia Flora Javae, Carl Ludwig Blume and Joanne Baptista Fischer. 1828. Modern Floras Americas Caribbean Britton, N. L., and Percy Wilson. Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands — Volume V, Part 1: Botany of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands: Pandanales to Thymeleales. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1924. Central & South America Flora Brasiliensis Flora of São Paulo in Brazil Flora of Chile Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Flora of Ecuador Flora of Guatemala Flora de Nicaragua Flora of Peru Flora of the Guianas Flora of Panama Flora del Paraguay Flora of Suriname Flora Mesoamericana (1994-ongoing) Introduction Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Flora Neotropica (1968-ongoing) Organising committee website . North America Flora of North America Kearney, Thomas H. Arizona Flora. University of California Press, 1940. Hickman, James C., editor. The Jepson Manual: