Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 28, 1994                   TAG: 9404280216
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

TROPICAL PLANTS CATALOGED

The seven-volume ``Flora Mesoamericana,'' a joint project of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Natural History Museum in London, also is the first such work ever written entirely in Spanish.

``This represents the dawn of a new era of understanding, for human benefit, the plants in this area,'' Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a St. Louis-based research institution and the nation's oldest botanical garden, said at a news conference Wednesday.

The project, begun in 1981, describes the plants growing in the tropical region stretching from southern Mexico through Panama. The area is slightly larger than Texas but contains roughly the same number of plant species as all of North America.

``It's the only intact land bridge left in the world,'' said Sandra Knapp, project coordinator for the Natural History Museum. ``The flora and fauna mix there, which accounts for its huge biological diversity.''

Among the major discoveries of the project was a species of tree in Costa Rica that is nearly identical to one thought to be found only in Africa.

Scientists believe the two trees descended from a common ancestor present in both South America and Africa between 50 million and 100 million years ago. The discovery provides strong additional evidence that the two continents once were linked in a single land mass.

In all, about 5 percent of the species cataloged in the project are new to scientists, Knapp said.