Kunming Institute of Botany, or KIB (), founded in 1938, is a research institution in the field of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, which is located in

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

, the capital of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The Institute is one of the major

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

s in China and maintains a collection of over one plant specimens. There are also over 200,000 specimens of

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es, many of which were donated by mycologist Mu Zang. The Institute also has a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. Currently there are around 5,000 species of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

in the botanical garden. There are several sections, with specific collections, such as: * Arboretum * Collection of herbs. * Endangered species and rare species. * Aquatic species. * Gardens of specimens of the genus Camellia, Magnolia, and Begonia. * Ferns All the plants that are hosted in the botanical garden are a foundation on which to work, for the research and experience of the staff of scientists at the Institute. Studies are conducted to improve the cultivation of plants of economic interest, with a view to better use, both nutritionally and industrially. Currently a digital database of the botanical garden is being prepared, as well as of wild plants in the province of Yunnan.

Germplasm Bank of Wild Species

A comprehensive research and preservation facility for the germplasm of rare and endangered plants, wild animal species and microorganisms was completed in 2007 at the KIB. With an investment of 148 million yuan (18.5 million U.S. dollars) over two years, the "Southwest China Germplasm Bank of Wild Species" facility was established by the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) with the help of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

(CAS). The bank is a key player in China's biotech industry and a pioneer in the nation's

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

conservation and bioresource development strategy. According to the KIB, the bank sees itself as a leading storage facility of Asian species within 15 years of its foundation, and expects to make significant contributions to the development of the biotech industry and

life science Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...

research by providing valuable resources, information and

expertise An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...

. Within the next five years, the bank is expected to collect 6,450 wild species, 4,000 of which will be plant seed species. Within 15 years, its collection will reach 19,000 species. The bank comprises a seed section, an in-vitro micro-propagation unit, a microorganism bank, an animal germplasm bank, a DNA bank, an information center and a garden. Stretching across an undulating landscape and climatic zones ranging from the tropical to the frigid,

is home to a multitude of plant species linked together by a complex network of

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

relations, and accounts for more than 50 percent of China's plant diversity. It is China's largest seed bank.

References

CAS -- Kunming Institute of Botany
- China International Science and Technology Cooperation

*29 October 2008,[https://web.archive.org/web/20140906132953/http://www.radio86.co.uk/china-insight/news-today/8630/kew-s-millennium-seed-bank-deposits-uk-flora-collections-as-part-of-china-seed-bank-launch Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank deposits UK flora collections as part of China seed bank launch]

External links

Official websiteKunming Branch of CAS
*''The Flora of China'' a collaborative projec
flickr images
{{Authority control Botanical gardens in China Research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Buildings and structures in Kunming Education in Kunming

Germplasm Bank of Wild Species

See also

References

External links