Plant Traits

Plant observations collected with plant identification apps such as Flora Incognita allow statements about the developmental stages of plants - both on a small scale and across Europe. more

We have gained a new external member: Prof. Dr. Christian Wirth has been appointed by the Senate of the Max Planck Society as External Scientific Member.  As a former group leader and later fellow at the institute, Prof. Wirth initiated and supported the development of the TRY database, the world's largest collection on plant traits.  more

Germany's most popular plant identification app "Flora Incognita" has been further upgraded by a new artificial intelligence. This triples the number of plant species that can be identified up to 16,000. In addition, the app is now available in 20 different languages and also in offline mode. more

An international research team has succeeded in identifying globally acting factors that cause the diversity of forms and functions of plants. Researchers compiled plant data from around the world and were able to show for the first time how strongly these are determined by climate and soil properties for characteristics such as the size, structure and life span of plants. more