About

Agroforestry Species Switchboard: a synthesis of information sources to support tree research and development activities. Version 4.0

Citation: Kindt R, Siddique I, Dawson I, John I, Pedercini F, Lillesø J-P, Graudal L (2025) The Agroforestry Species Switchboard, a global resource to explore information for 107,269 plant species. Scientific Data, 12, article 1150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05492-w . (Available at https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/products/switchboard and https://zenodo.org/records/14991887)

About the Switchboard

The Agroforestry Species Switchboard is a comprehensive vascular plant database that guides users to information for a particular taxon from a global set of resources. Via species name, a user can rapidly determine which among the contributing databases to the Switchboard contain information of interest, and understand how this information can be accessed. The Switchboard is used internally in other decision-support tools developed by CIFOR-ICRAF, such as the GlobalUsefulNativeTrees database, the EcoregionsTreeFinder database and What To Plant Where portals.

The Switchboard was specifically developed to facilitate access to detailed – yet fragmented – information for a broad range of tree species to support their wider use, such as in agroforestry plantings and wider restoration initiatives. Its principal focus is on international databases that document tree species, supplemented with different types of database covering botanical, biochemical, biophysical, physiological, ecological, biogeographic, conservation, agronomic, silvicultural, nutritional, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics for plant taxa of all growth forms.

The Switchboard can be used by practitioners, researchers and policy makers to readily access descriptions of vascular plant species, including information on products and services provided, details on risks of invasiveness, and descriptions such as wood density and food nutritional compositions. Referencing of a species through the Switchboard to the included specialized databases such as on timber, forage and food uses can aid in prioritizing species for these functions, while information obtained through databases linked to the Switchboard related to species’ environmental ranges and native distributions can further support species-site-use matching.

The current Version 4.0 of the Switchboard links to 59 information sources for 107,269 plant species. A list and brief descriptions of these sources, by source category, is given at the bottom of this page.

Detailed information on the Switchboard and linked information sources, including the dates the sources were first created, and on how species have been collated and cross-referenced across sources for the Switchboard, is available at the citation provided above (also here: https://zenodo.org/records/14991887).

Comments concerning the Switchboard can be sent to: switchboard@cifor-icraf.org

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to several of the experts who created information sources listed in the Switchboard for helping us to link their databases to the Switchboard. Support to CIFOR-ICRAF for decision-support tools to enhance tree planting comes from Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative through its funding of the Provision of Adequate Tree Seed Portfolios in Ethiopia project (PATSPO); from Germany’s International Climate Initiative through its funding for the Right Tree in the Right Place for the Right Purpose project (RTRP-Seed); from Darwin Plus (The Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund) through its funding of The Global Biodiversity Standard (Grant No. DAREX001); from the Bezos Earth Fund that invests in tree seed and seedling system development in Kenya and the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin (the QT-Seed project); and from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through its funding of both the IUCN-led Transforming the Eastern Province of Rwanda through Adaptation project (TREPA) and the readiness project on implementing Climate Appropriate Portfolios of Tree Diversity in Burkina Faso (R-CAPTD). In addition, CIFOR-ICRAF gratefully acknowledges the support of the EU and broader CGIAR funding partners.

List and description of information sources

  1. ICRAF databases: these are databases that were (co-)developed by CIFOR-ICRAF
    • African Wood Density Database (AWDD, https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treesnmarkets/wood). This database provides air-dry wood density data for over 900 native and introduced tree species found in Africa.
    • Agroforestree Database (AFD, https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/). This database provides information on the management, use and ecology of over 600 tree species which can be used in agroforestry systems globally. It is a good starting point for understanding more about many cultivated trees in smallholders’ farms.
    • CIFOR-ICRAF Tree Genebank (ICRAF-gene, https://treegenebank.cifor-icraf.org/). The database linked to CIFOR-ICRAF’s Genebank indicates accessions of trees and shrubs that are conserved and/or supplied for research purposes by the institute.
    • GlobalUsefulNativeTrees (GlobUNT, https://worldagroforestry.org/output/globalusefulnativetrees). This database includes use information, under 10 categories, on 14,014 tree species, along with data on the natural distributions of the species across 242 countries and territories. The database was built to support the greater use of native tree species in tree planting.
    • Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database (ICRAF-nutri, https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/products/nutrition/index.php/home/). This database contains composition information for selected tree foods and some other crop foods with a geographical focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Over 130 foods are listed, including of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and edible oils.
    • RELMA-ICRAF Useful Trees (RELMA-ICRAF, https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/usefultrees/index.php). These species-based factsheets provide information on the useful trees and shrubs of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The factsheets were assembled as part of a series of Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA)-ICRAF publications first released in the 1990s and 2000s. Information on ecology, uses, propagation, management, local names and botanical names is included.
    • TreeGOER: Tree Globally Observed Environmental Ranges (TreeGOER, https://zenodo.org/records/7922927). This database documents the environmental ranges of 48,129 tree species based on known occurrence records. Covered are 51 environmental variables, of which 38 are bioclimatic, 8 are soil-based and 3 are topographic.
    • Useful Tree Species for Africa (UTSA, https://patspo.shinyapps.io/UsefulTreeSpecies4Africa/; https://www.worldagroforestry.org/output/useful-tree-species-africa). Produced with the University of Copenhagen (Forest and Landscape Denmark), this interactive vegetation map tool enables the selection of useful tree species for planting at given locations anywhere in Africa. It uses Google Earth for visualisation purposes. The Switchboard indicates which species are listed in the tool.
    • Vegetation map for Africa species distribution maps (V4A, https://vegetationmap4africa.org/). Produced with the University of Copenhagen, this map tool shows the distribution of 1,022 plant species across Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. It uses Google Earth and is based on a high-resolution potential natural vegetation map of eastern and southern Africa. It can be used to help select tree species for planting at given locations in mapped countries.
  2. Invasive species databases: these are databases that document potentially invasive species
    • CABI Compendium Invasive Species (CABI-ISC, https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/product/QI). This compendium provides information on invasive organisms globally, including uses, means of dispersal, risks, invasiveness impacts and means of control. Included in the Switchboard are plant species. Note that Datasheet types include ‘Invasive Species’ and ‘Host Plants’.
    • Country Compendium of the Global Registry of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS, https://zenodo.org/records/6348164). This is a collation of data across 196 individual country checklists of alien species, with a designation of those species associated with evidence of impact at a country level.
    • Global Invasive Species Database (GISD, https://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/). This database was developed and is managed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. It provides information about alien and invasive species, including plants, which negatively impact native biodiversity and natural areas. Data were filtered to only include plants.
  3. Spreadsheet databases: these are databases that typically can be downloaded as a single file, where the user can find information for a taxon of interest by searching for its name within the document
    • Árboles de Centroamérica: un Manual para Extensionistas (Spanish) (AdC, https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/9730). This sourcebook provides factsheets for 204 indigenous Mesoamerican tree species. It describes species’ biologies and uses across the full spectrum of on-farm planting, ecological restoration and natural regeneration situations.
    • BIOMASS: Estimating Aboveground Biomass and Its Uncertainty in Tropical Forests (BIOMASS, https://cran.r-project.org/package=BIOMASS). This R package includes the Global Wood Density Database as the wdData data.frame. The Switchboard only includes species-specific matches for species that are otherwise listed in the Switchboard.
    • Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases (Duke-Ethno and Duke-Phyto, http://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/). These databases facilitate in-depth plant, chemical, bioactivity and ethnobotany searches using scientific or common names, for pharmaceutical, nutritional, and biomedical research. A large number of plants and their chemical profiles are covered.
    • eHALOPH: a database of halophytes and other salt-tolerant plants (eHALOPH, https://ehaloph.uc.pt/). This database provides descriptions of salt-tolerant plants, including the 1,554 species included in James Aronson’s 1989 publication HALOPH: a data base of salt tolerant plants of the world.
    • Especies para la restauracion en Mesoamerica (Spanish) (Restoracion, data obtained from https://web.archive.org/web/20160327225139/http://www.especiesrestauracion-uicn.org/especies.php in 2016; species information available now via https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/ST-GFE-no.03.pdf). This information source provides factsheets on mostly Mesoamerican plant species. Information includes botanical and local names, distributions, habitats, and propagation and silvicultural methods, with a view to supporting restoration initiatives.
    • Food Plants International database (FoodPlants, https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/). This database provides information on undervalued food plants across the world, including production, use and nutritional values. Information on over 35,000 plants is recorded.
    • Global database of plant services for humankind (GPS, https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/PLANT_USES_PLANT_BOOK_xlsx/13625546/3). This database is a genus-level dataset of plant-use records for all accepted vascular plant taxa. It uses the information gathered in the 4th Edition of Mabberley’s Plant-book. Only genera with at least one category of use are referenced by the Switchboard.
    • Global Species Matrix (GSM, https://pfaf.org/user/CarbonFarmingSolution.html). This matrix of around 700 plant entries includes information on plants’ origins, uses and management practices. It was published as an electronic supplement to Appendix A of The Carbon Farming Solution, which is concerned with practical solutions to climate change.
    • GlobAllomeTree: Assessing volume, biomass and carbon stocks of trees and forests (GlobAllome; http://www.globallometree.org/). GlobAllomeTree, created in 2013, was the first international web platform to share and provide access to tree allometric equations. Since then, wood densities, biomass expansion factors, and raw data have been added to the platform. Species included in the Switchboard are those that had been downloaded separately for allometric equations, raw data and wood density data.
    • Tallo database (Tallo, https://zenodo.org/records/6637599). This is a collection of 498,838 georeferenced and taxonomically standardized records of individual trees for which stem diameter, height and/or crown radius have been measured. Data were compiled from 61,856 globally distributed sites and include measurements for 5,163 tree species.
    • The International Timber Trade: a working list of commercial timber tree species (ComTimber, https://www.bgci.org/resources/bgci-tools-and-resources/a-working-list-of-commercial-timber-tree-species/). This working list of 1,575 tree species that are internationally traded for timber was produced by combining 17 contemporary open-access resources which list commercial timbers, including trade reports and publications from conservation organisations.
    • Tropical Forestry Handbook: Species Files in Tropical Forestry (TFH, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41554-8_112-3). This publication lists the 215 most frequently used species for plantations, including trees, bamboos and rattans. For each species, the main features which are necessary to have an appropriate knowledge of for decision-making are provided: botanical name, taxonomy, natural occurrence, climate, soils, silviculture, production, planting objectives, timber, utilization, nursery management, and pests and diseases.
    • World Checklist of Useful Plant Species (WCUPS, https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/doi:10.5063/F1CV4G34). In 2016, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew published the first State of the World's Plants report. One of its highlights was the compilation of a list of 31,128 plant species with a documented human use, from ten datasets. The World Checklist of Useful Plant Species added the datasets from the Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS version 8.2), the Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA) and the Useful Plants of New Guinea lists, for a total of 40,292 species.
    • World list of plants with extrafloral nectaries (Extrafloral, http://www.extrafloralnectaries.org/).This list includes plants with extranuptial nectaries, circumfloral nectaries, postfloral nectaries and foliar nectaries. More than 4,000 angiosperms species are currently indicated to have extrafloral nectaries.
  4. Other databases: these are databases not listed in the previous categories. For these databases, the Switchboard includes taxon-specific links
    • African Orphan Crops Consortium priority crops (AOCC, https://africanorphancrops.org/meet-the-crops/). AOCC’s goal is to sequence, assemble, annotate and publish in open-access databases the genomes of 101 traditional African food crops, about half of which are trees. This is to support plant breeders to improve the crops and help provide solutions to Africa’s currently poor nutritional security. The Switchboard links to information on the priority crops of the initiative.
    • Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (LUCID-rain, https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html). This information system is for identifying and learning about plants in Australian tropical rainforests. It currently includes 2,762 taxa in 176 families.
    • CABI Compendium (CABI, https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/journal/cabicompendium). A leading scientific knowledge resource for environmental and agricultural production, health and biosecurity, the Compendium brings together data and research across species, pests, and diseases. Access to full data requires a subscription.
    • CABI Compendium Forestry (CABI-Forest, https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/product/QF). The CABI Forestry Compendium is an encyclopaedic resource for information on tree and woody plant species. It covers, in detail, pests that damage trees. Access to full data requires a subscription.
    • ECHOcommunity Plant Search (ECHO, https://www.echocommunity.org/en/search/plants?q=*). Species are included in the Switchboard from the various categories of Plant Information Pages provided by the online collaborative membership community of ECHO. ECHO exists to reduce hunger and improve lives through agricultural training and resources.
    • ECOCROP Database of Crop Constraints and Characteristics (ECOCROP, https://gaez.fao.org/pages/ecocrop). This database provides information on plant characteristics and crop environmental requirements for more than 2,000 plant species, and is used to determine the suitability of a crop for a specified environment.
    • EUCLID Eucalypts of Australia (LUCID-euc, https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/intro/index.html). This information system is for identifying and learning about eucalypts in Australia. Over 890 species and subspecies are currently recognised in the country.
    • European Forest Genetic Resources Programme Species (EUFORGEN, https://www.euforgen.org/species). For over 100 tree species, the website provides a short species description, distribution maps, and technical guidelines for genetic conservation and use.
    • FamineFoods (FamineFoods, https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/famine-foods/). This source provides information on food plants which are consumed, with rare exceptions, exclusively in times of severe food shortage. It provides insight into potential new food crops that could offset global food insecurity.
    • Feedipedia (Feedipedia, https://www.feedipedia.org/). This is an open-access information system on animal feed resources. It provides information on the nature, occurrence, chemical composition, nutritional value and safe use of nearly 1,400 livestock feeds globally.
    • Gymnosperm Database (Gymnosperm, https://www.conifers.org/index.php). The database provides information on the classification, description, ecology and uses of this culturally and ecologically important group of plants (conifers, cycads, ginkgo and the gnetophytes).
    • INBAR Bamboo and Rattan Species Selection tool (INBAR, https://speciestool.inbar.int/). This tool is designed to help users to select the right bamboo or rattan species for cultivation, considering planting purpose and planting site environment. The tool contains sets of environmental parameters (such as soil and climatic conditions) and product development parameters to aid in selection.
    • ITTO Lesser Used Species (TropTimber, http://www.tropicaltimber.info/). The website informs on the properties, uses and availability of lesser-used tropical timber species.
    • Mansfeld’s World Database of Agriculture and Horticultural Crops (Mansfeld, https://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de). This database contains information on 6,100 crop plant species. Species entries provide information on distribution, use and progenitors, and notes on phylogeny, variation and history.
    • New World Fruits Database (NWFD, http://nwfdb.bioversityinternational.org/). This database provides information on fruit and plant uses, and distributions and origins, for over 1,200 fruit species from North and South America.
    • NewCROP (NewCROP, https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Indices/index_ab.html). This source is an information-rich site related to crop plants that was developed by the Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products.
    • Optimizing Pesticidal Plants (OPTIONs, https://options.nri.org/). This database, constructed to optimise the application of predominantly native plants as pesticides in Africa, provides factsheets on plant use.
    • Oxford Plants 400 (Oxford400, https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants400). As a celebration of the anniversary marking 400 years of botanical research and teaching at the University of Oxford, 400 plants of scientific and cultural significance were profiled.
    • Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA, https://prosea.prota4u.org/). This database provides information on the plant resources of South-East Asia for more than 6,000 taxa, including on uses, botany, ecology, genetic resources and available literature.
    • Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA, https://prota.prota4u.org/). This database provides information on the plant resources of Tropical Africa, including on uses, botany, ecology, genetic resources and available literature.
    • PLANTS Database (USDA-Plants, https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/). This provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. The Switchboard includes links for species retrieved via the search options of ‘Characteristics Search’ and ‘Fact Sheets/Plant Guides’.
    • Plants For A Future (PFAF, https://pfaf.org/user/). This database provides information on over 8,000 edible, medicinal and other useful plants. Information includes on range, uses, weed potential, propagation and physical characteristics.
    • Portal de Plantas Medicinais, Aromaticas e Condimentares (Portuguese, PPMAC, https://www.ppmac.org/medicinal-aromatica-condimentar). This database provides information on over 500 medicinal, aromatic and condiment plants. It includes information on traditional medicinal uses.
    • Seed Leaflets (Leaflets, available from https://sl.ku.dk/rapporter/). Developed by the University of Copenhagen (Forest and Landscape Denmark, the Danida Forest Seed Centre), these species-specific leaflets provide short descriptions of tropical trees, with particular emphasis on seed issues. This includes on appropriate methods for seed harvest, treatment, storage and sowing.
    • Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry (Pacific, https://agroforestry.org/free-publications/traditional-tree-profiles). Species-specific chapters of a 2006 publication covering the ecology, economics and culture of Pacific Island agroforestry can be downloaded individually.
    • Tropical Forages (SoFT, https://www.tropicalforages.info/text/intro/index.html). This tool provides information on 180 tropical and sub-tropical forage species, including on plants’ agronomy, feed value, production potential and seed production.
    • tropiTree (TropiTree, https://ics.hutton.ac.uk/tropiTree/index.html). The Tropical Tree Expressed Transcripts, SSR Markers and Primer Pairs Database (tropiTree) provides assembled expressed transcripts from an RNA-seq study of a set of 24 important tropical trees, along with markers designed to amplify microsatellites discovered within sequences.
    • Useful Temperate Plants (UtempP, https://temperate.theferns.info/). This database contains information on the edible, medicinal and other uses of more than 8,000 plant species that can be grown in temperate regions.
    • Useful Tropical Plants (UtropP, https://tropical.theferns.info/). This database contains information on the edible, medicinal and other uses of more than 12,000 plant species that can be grown in tropical regions.
    • WATTLE Acacias of Australia (LUCID-wat, https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle/text/intro/index.html). This information system is for identifying and learning about acacias in Australia. It includes over 1,000 formally-described species, sub-species and other categories of acacia.
    • Wood Database (TheWood, https://www.wood-database.com/). The database provides profiles for a range of several hundred woods used globally. It includes information on specific gravity, modulus of rupture, shrinkage, grain and workability.
    • World Economic Plants in GRIN-Global (USDA-GRIN, https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysearchwep). Species listed in the Switchboard are those that were retrieved by a specialised query on World Economic Plants – plants important to humans globally – among the GRIN-Global Taxonomy for Plants.
  5. Search databases: these are databases not listed in the previous categories. For these databases, the Switchboard includes taxon-specific links, but these may not result in finding an entry for that species in the searched database.

The Switchboard website application also provides hyperlinks to additional relevant portals/databases. Whether or not a particular species in the Switchboard is present in each of these resources has not been established – that is, direct cross-referencing was not confirmed. These additional hyperlinks were not included in the Zenodo archive. Users can however themselves search for the presence or absence of species.

Alert Info

A species name or genus name is required