Our primary goal was to generate a printed flora in a format resembling the 1973 Flora, maintaining a similar layout with indented keys, line drawings adjacent to key leads, and familiar wording. Secondary goals include the creation of an online web site for the flora, a regional checklist, and a digital version of the Flora suitable for use on portable devices.

We have employed a small, core group of individuals to revise and write treatments and keys, thereby maintaining consistency among treatments, simplifying project management, and ensuring a timely completion. Taxonomic and regional experts were consulted as appropriate to write or review treatments.

New line drawings for species not covered in the current Flora were commissioned through arrangements with one or more scientific illustrators.

We developed the Second Edition of the Flora using a digital framework. In parallel to the printed Flora, all content will ultimately reside in a structured database, allowing maximum flexibility in displaying and repurposing the contents in the future. Our approach helps keeps the new Flora from remaining locked up on the printed page.

The following diagram describes the workflow we developed, based on re-using text and illustrations from the 1973 Flora. Please note that some aspects of this workflow have subsequently changed.