A succinct history of the Brazilian PROGRAMA FLORA, including the reasons why the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) started such a project and the status of that PROGRAM today. The main functions of PROGRAMA FLORA are: a) basic research on vegetation and elements of the Brazilian flora; b) organization of centers of excellence in botany in each itate of Brazil especially for the study of the native flora and to prepare new botanists and technicians; and c) development of information systems related to the knowledge of the native flora of Brazil. After eight years, and due to the lack of a real interest from the competent authorities, the PROGRAMA FLORA was established in only 10 of the 26 states and territories of Brazil and is, today, almost extinct, awaiting that the new government reanimate it, create new nuclei in the other areas of the country and execute the original plan of action for the project. When PROGRAMA FLORA was functioning even with only a very small help from the government, it was responsible for the hiring of 52 young botanists who, under the guidance of experienced botanists, gave a great impulse to the study of each regional flora. The herbaria with the PROGRAMA nuclei were modernized and some, like the Amazonian and northeastern ones, became, in only 5 years, twice or even three times bigger. Several of the young botanists entered graduate courses, some have already obtained their Masters degrees and are continuing towards their Doctoral degrees. In the Information Processing area, two North American scientists came to Brazil bringing computer systems specially designed to treat data on systematic Botany. The systems were implanted at the CPD of the Physics Research Center (Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas - CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro. More than 400,000 forms with information on herbarium specimens were prepared, the data were put into the CBPF computer, forming the PROGRAMA FLORA master data-base.
These data give an idea of what could be expected from PROGRAMA FLORA if the competent authorities had give it the needed resources and if the initial project plan of action had been followed. It is a great pity that those authorities decided to stop the activities of this PROGRAM, especially at this moment, when the established nuclei need strong support and new nuclei covering the rest of the country must be organized.