Flora of China

Herbarium, Institute of Botany, Beijing (PE)

The herbarium is located in the Beijing Botanical Garden in Xiangshan, a western suburb about 16 km from downtown Beijing. It is one of the oldest herbaria in China and is the largest in Asia. A milestone of the history of PE was the combination in 1949 of the herbaria of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology in Peiping (Beijing), which was founded in 1928 and was headed by Prof. Hu Hsen-hsu (1894-1968), and of the Institute of Botany, Peiping Academy of Sciences (1929-1949), which was headed by Prof. Liou Tchen-ngo (1897-1975). A portion of the Biological Laboratory of Science Society in Shanghai, was merged in 1950 to form the Institute of Phytotaxonomy in Beijing, which was headed by Prof. Chien Sung-shu (1883-1965). The combined herbaria housed then only about 200,000 specimens. The latter institute was renamed in 1953 as the Institute of Botany. In 1983, a seven-story herbarium building, covering a floor space of 11,000 square meters, was built in the Beijing Botanical Garden.

This herbarium is now the national center for Chinese plant collections. It contains more than 2,000,000 specimens, including more than 100,000 of mosses, ca. 150,000 of ferns, and 1,800,000 of seed plants. The herbarium houses about 10,000 type specimens. Extensive collections were made throughout China, especially after 1949. The herbarium is playing key roles in the writing of Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and Flora of China accounts.

Important collections include those of Chang Yong-tian, Chen Pang-chieh, Cheng Shu-zhi, Ching Ren-chang, Dai Tian-lun, Fang Wen-pei, Feng Kou-mei, G. Forrest, M. Furuse, Fu Kun-tsun, Hao Kin-shen, A. Henry, Hsia Wei-yin, Kuan Ke-chien, Kung Hsien-wu, Li Guo-feng, Li Bo-sheng, Li Xin, E. Licent, Ling Yong, Liou Ki-mon, Liou Tchen-ngo, Liu Ying, H. Smith, Sun Hong-fan, Tsai Hse-tao, Tsien Cho-po, Tsoong Kuan-kwang, Tsoong Pu-chiu, Tsui Yu-wen, Wang Chi-wu, Wang Fa-tsuan, Wang Tso-ping, Yu Te-tsun, and Zhou Hong-fu.

The herbarium also includes all collections made during numerous expeditions, especially to Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hengduan Shan, Huanghe, Nanshui Beidiao, Qinghai-Xizang, Shennongjia, Sichuan, Wuling Shan, Xinjiang, and Xizang, as well as collections of the Sino-American expeditions to Dali and Fanjing Shan, Sino-German expedition to Heilongjiang, Sino-Russian expedition to Yunnan, and Sino-Vietnamese expedition to Vietnam.

The herbarium is exchanging specimens with some 50 herbaria, especially in Asia, Europe, and North America. It is hoped that PE receives duplicates of early botanical collections made in China by foreign collectors. - Prof. Chen Chia-jui (PE).

Herbarium, Institute of Botany, Beijing (PE)
Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica