Here is a table of the numbers of plant species, or flora, found around the world, broken down by country.
South America
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Tropical Central Africa
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Europe/Mediterranean Basin
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Base-line flora: Brazil-Colombia 70,000 species
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Base-line flora: Zaire 11,000 species
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Base-line flora: Europe 13,700 species
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5000 shared southern S. American and Andean species not in Brazil/Colombia
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1000 shared Central African species not in Zaire
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Probably about an additional 1800 N. African/Near East taxa not occurring in Europe but not endemic to any single country
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| Argentina |
3000 endemics |
| Bolivia |
2000 endemics |
| Chile |
2750 endemics |
| Ecuador |
4000 endemics |
| Guayanas |
1000 endemics |
| Paraguay |
850 endemics |
| Peru |
2000 endemics |
| Suriname |
100 endemics |
| Venezuela |
8000 endemics |
| Uruguay |
100 endemics |
| Total South America |
98,800 species |
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Central America
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For Central America there are estimates of about 15,000 species but many of these overlap with South American countries or with México to the north. A conservative estimate of about 3000 Central American base-line species occurring in more than one country is made here and added to the following endemic floras:
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| Belize |
150 endemics |
| Costa Rica |
1500 endemics |
| El Salvador |
20 endemics |
| Guatamala |
1200 endemics |
| Honduras |
150 endemics |
| Nicaragua |
60 endemics |
| Panama |
1300 endemics |
| Total Central America |
7380 species |
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North America
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Base-line flora: USA 19,000 species
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| Mexico |
4000 endemics |
| Canada |
150 endemics |
| Total North America |
23,150 species |
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Southern Africa
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Estimates between 21,000 and 23,000 have been made. I accept the upper figure as it allows some margin for undescribed species.
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| Total Southern Africa |
23,000 species |
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| Zambia |
211 endemics |
| Mozambique |
219 endemics |
| Tanzania |
1122 endemics |
| Malawi |
70 endemics |
| Burundi |
50 endemics |
| Congo 1000 endemics (may be higher) |
| Central African Republic |
100 endemics |
| Total Tropical Central Africa |
16,032 species |
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East Africa
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Base-line flora: Ethiopía 6200 species
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400 E. African species not in Ethiopia
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| Uganda |
50 endemics |
| Kenya |
500 endemics |
| Somalia |
600 endemics |
| Sudan |
100 endemics |
| Total East Africa |
7850 species |
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West Tropical Africa
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Base-line flora: Gabon 8000 species
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1500 shared W. African species not in Gabon
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| Cameroon |
200 endemics |
| Nigeria |
220 endemics |
| Ghana |
50 endemics |
| Ivory Coast |
100 endemics |
| Sierra Leone |
100 endemics |
| Senegal |
50 endemics |
| Mali |
20 endemics |
| Liberia |
100 endemics |
| Total West Tropical Africa |
10,340 species |
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| TOTAL AFRICA |
57,704 |
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TOTAL WORLD FLORA
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421,968 species
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| Turkey |
2500 endemics |
| Morocco |
650 endemics |
| Algeria/Tunisia |
300 endemics |
| Egypt |
70 endemics |
| Palestine |
165 endemics |
| Other endemics |
200 |
| Total Europe/Mediterranean |
19,236 species |
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Temperate Asia
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Base-line flora: China 30,000 species
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| Former USSR |
22,000 species |
| Irano-Turanian Region |
7000 species |
| Pakistan |
380 endemics |
| Afganistan |
800 endemics |
| Iran |
1500 endemics |
| Total Temperate Asia |
61,680 species |
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Tropical Asia
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| Indian Subcontinent |
17,500 species |
| Continental S.E. Asia/Indochina |
42,000 species |
| Indonesia |
20,000 |
| Total Tropical Asia |
79,500 species |
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Australia
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| 25,000 species |
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| Total Australia |
25,000 species |
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Islands (endemic species)
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| Including: Madagascar |
9600 |
| Philippines |
3500 |
| New Caledonia |
2500 |
| Cuba |
4000 |
| Hispaniola |
2000 |
| Hawaii |
1000 |
| Japan |
1371 |
| New Zealand |
1620 |
| Taiwan |
850 |
| Macaronesia etc. |
800 |
| Total Islands |
50,000 endemic species |
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010
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Earth Science 
