Botanizing the Laiwangi Wanggameti region reveals new records from Sumba (Indonesia), an island with poorly accessible, scattered, and outdated floristic information

The Lesser Sunda Islands comprise a unique phytogeographical province within the Malesian region. The flora of Sumba, one of these islands, has been understudied and is therefore poorly known. To address this shortcoming, a botanical excursion of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) was conducted in 2016 at Laiwangi Wanggameti National Park in Sumba. This expedition collected data from two major types of vegetation, lowland and submontane forests from 300‐1225 m asl. This study documents 145 species in 49 families of vascular plants accompanied by trait data such as tree height and diameter at breast height (dbh) across elevational gradients. While the number of individual trees observed increased with elevation, the average tree diameter observed decreased. We compared our data from the Wanggameti area with data previously collected by Banilodu & Saka in a descriptive vegetation study in the early 1990s. A reevaluation of that dataset of Banilodu & Saka enabled us to correct a mischaracterization of the area as elfin forest, a classification perpetuated by a subsequent publication. The floristic work based on our data and the previous study supports the characterization of the Wanggameti area as submontane forest. In addition, we present new records for 25 spermatophytes trees and 20 bryophytes species in Sumba. We highlight that bryophytes are underrepresented in botanical surveys.