Catalog of Ferns, Gymnosperms and Flowering Plants of the Department of Arequipa, Peru

The department of Arequipa still has some white spots botanically. Each year botanists describe several new species for the area. This catalog was produced to provide an overview of the current status of known species for the department. For this purpose, the current botanical literature was studied in-depth and several trips were made to all the provinces of Arequipa.
The catalog describes 1,362 species of ferns and flowering plants for the department of Arequipa. This is 200 additional species to the last systematic inventory by Quipuscoa, Dillon, & Ortíz in 2006. 95 species are mentioned for the first time for Arequipa and 26 species mentioned in previous sources for Arequipa were excluded.
The catalog includes a brief description of the species, information about their ecology, distribution, and human use. In addition to information on systematics and phylogeny, the appendix lists the most commonly used synonyms.
With this catalog, the author hopes to contribute to the knowledge and conservation of biodiversity in southern Peru.

Edgar Heim was born in Lima, Peru. He studied food technology in Switzerland and has practiced that profession for more than 30 years, first as a manager in industrial companies, then as a lecturer.
Since his youth, he has been fascinated by nature, biodiversity, and ecology. Botany and traveling are his passions. Over the years he has collected information about vegetation and plants from all over the world and systematically compiled it in a database.