Southern Africa is home to a rich flora, with Germishuizen & Meyer (2003) listing 24,035 taxa. To date, the number of printed publications that can be used to identify species is still limited, and there is a need to develop new tools for identification. This was the starting point for developing the Photo Guide to Plants of Southern Africa. The photo guide serves as a tool that enables experts and non-scientists to make photos of identified plants available and, in return, access the identified photographs of plants that have been submitted by other experts. Thus, the photo guide has become a well-structured online database facilitating the identification of plant species, saving manpower and time. The photo guide enables the viewing of taxonomic groups such as genera or families. Series of photos display different aspects of plants, ranging from the entire plant to details of leaves or flowers as well as information about habitat. At the moment, 18,439 photographs of 2,589 species are represented in the photo guide. Currently, Namibia and the western parts of South Africa are best covered, and a growing number of photographs of the other SASSCAL countries Angola, Botswana, and Zambia are being added gradually.