Herbaria are collections of dried preserved specimens that document the identity of plants and fungi. They represent reference collections with many and varied functions including identification, research and education.

The Herbarium (HITBC) of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG)  was established in 1959, and is one of the  important supporting platforms of XTBG. The XTBG Herbarium (HITBC) collects vascular flora specimens with distribution ranges centered in the tropical and subtropical regions of Yunnan, China, and Southeast Asia. It also holds voucher specimens for ecological plot studies and seed specimens, and provides technical support services for XTBG and for local forestry, environmental protection, gardens and scientific popularization.

The HITBC currently holds more than 300,000 sheets with specimens of more than 19,000 species, including 1,900 sheets with type specimens of more than 360 species. The new fossil specimen repository built in 2022 contains three fossil plant specimen rooms, holding more than 10,000 specimens of Cenozoic fossil plants from Yunnan, Tibet and other regions. The fern specimens in the collection are organised according to the Qin Renchang system, the gymnosperms according to the Zheng Wanjun system and the angiosperms according to the J. Hutchinson system. All positively numbered specimens are accessible to the public free of charge throughout the year and are made available digitally via the Chinese Virtual Herbarium (www.cvh.ac.cn) and HITBC (http://hitbc.xtbg.ac.cn). 

Contact: Mr. TAN Yunhong  

E-mail: tyh@xtbg.org.cn  

XTBG Herbarium in 2023

XTBG Herbarium in 2013

The Herbrium building in 2004