Thanks to INFOBOTA, a software package we have recently purchased and installed, we will soon know exactly how many plants there are in the Garden. At present we only possess piecemeal data - the botanical inventory drawn up by Pierre Augé and dating back to 1991, the one carried out in 1997 by the previous steward of the property on behalf of the then owners (a Monaco company), and the list of the plants introduced since the site was purchased by the Conservatoire du Littoral in January 1999. The new program will be much more than just a list; it will be a fully-fledged scientific and botanical research tool. There will be a sort of general identity card for each plant but the program will also record specific data for each specimen in Serre de la Madone (relating to flowering period, fruiting, self-seeding, successes and failures etc.). This will help the Garden carry out its botanical mission with greater thoroughness. It is conceivable that INFOBOTA may be made available for public consultation when we open the library.
