The role of living collections-based research and discovery has been a prominent feature throughout the history of evolution and advance of botanical science: such research is the core and soul of the botanical garden...The role of living collections-based research and discovery has been a prominent feature throughout the history of evolution and advance of botanical science: such research is the core and soul of the botanical gardens. Currently, there are c. 162 Chinese botanical gardens, harboring c. 20,000 species in China. As an example of initiatives to utilize the garden cultivated flora to address plant diversity conservation and germplasm discovery for sustainable agriculture and the bio-industries, the Ex situ Flora of China project aims to catalog and document this mega-diversity of plants that are cultivated in the Chinese botanical gardens. The concept of Ex situ Flora of China is a complete new formulation of species, based on garden cultivated individuals and populations, to obtain better morphological descriptions, provide multipurpose applicability and a fundamental data service that will support national bio-strategies and bioindustries. It emphasises integrative information, accurately collected from living collections across different Chinese botanical gardens, on biology, phenology, cultivation requirements and uses of plant resources, which are normally not available from traditional Floras based on herbarium specimens. The ex situ flora should provide better information coverage for taxonomy, biological and introduction and collection data and color photos of stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seed, as well as useful information of cultivation key points and main use of each plant. In general, the Ex situ Flora of China provides more useful information than the traditional Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae. The project of Ex situ Flora of China is planned to be one of the most important initiatives of the plant diversity research platform for sustainable economic and social development in China.展开更多
Preserving as many as possible of the plants that support us directly as food,medicine,and buildingmaterials and indirectly by maintaining the conditions that make our lives sustainable will be an increasing challenge...Preserving as many as possible of the plants that support us directly as food,medicine,and buildingmaterials and indirectly by maintaining the conditions that make our lives sustainable will be an increasing challenge in the immediate future,owing to our population growth and the climate change that we are driving.With estimates that as many as a third of all kinds of organisms may have become extinct by the end of the century,it is clear that we must save as many of them and as much of their genetic diversity as we possibly can.China,which is home to more than 8%of the world’s plant species,provides an important case in point.展开更多
基金supported in part by China National Science and Technology Infrastructure Program 2015FY210100
文摘The role of living collections-based research and discovery has been a prominent feature throughout the history of evolution and advance of botanical science: such research is the core and soul of the botanical gardens. Currently, there are c. 162 Chinese botanical gardens, harboring c. 20,000 species in China. As an example of initiatives to utilize the garden cultivated flora to address plant diversity conservation and germplasm discovery for sustainable agriculture and the bio-industries, the Ex situ Flora of China project aims to catalog and document this mega-diversity of plants that are cultivated in the Chinese botanical gardens. The concept of Ex situ Flora of China is a complete new formulation of species, based on garden cultivated individuals and populations, to obtain better morphological descriptions, provide multipurpose applicability and a fundamental data service that will support national bio-strategies and bioindustries. It emphasises integrative information, accurately collected from living collections across different Chinese botanical gardens, on biology, phenology, cultivation requirements and uses of plant resources, which are normally not available from traditional Floras based on herbarium specimens. The ex situ flora should provide better information coverage for taxonomy, biological and introduction and collection data and color photos of stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seed, as well as useful information of cultivation key points and main use of each plant. In general, the Ex situ Flora of China provides more useful information than the traditional Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae. The project of Ex situ Flora of China is planned to be one of the most important initiatives of the plant diversity research platform for sustainable economic and social development in China.
基金China National Science and Technology Infrastructure Program(2015FY210100).
文摘Preserving as many as possible of the plants that support us directly as food,medicine,and buildingmaterials and indirectly by maintaining the conditions that make our lives sustainable will be an increasing challenge in the immediate future,owing to our population growth and the climate change that we are driving.With estimates that as many as a third of all kinds of organisms may have become extinct by the end of the century,it is clear that we must save as many of them and as much of their genetic diversity as we possibly can.China,which is home to more than 8%of the world’s plant species,provides an important case in point.
