Directory of Medicinal Plant Collections in Botanical Gardens
By:
Fiona Dennis and Peter Wyse Jackson
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
September, 1998
Introduction:
In 1997, BGCI began the compilation of the Directory of Medicinal Plant
Collections in Botanic Gardens. The aim of the Directory is to collate
and make accessible, information on the work being undertaken by botanic
gardens on the cultivation and research of Medicinal plants and
medicinal plant conservation. This information can be used to assist a
botanic garden wanting to develop a strategic plan for the conservation
of medicinal plants in their institution, and their country. The
Directory can, by offering immediate potential links with existing
botanic gardens, enable the experience and the knowledge of each botanic
garden to be shared. The opportunities for collaborative projects,
joint funding applications, skills exchanges, data sharing and resource
sharing can be explored, and the limited resources of botanic gardens
can be used more efficiently and more effectively.
The majority of the information contained in the Directory has compiled
from the computer databases of Botanic Gardens Conservation
International. Some additional information has been included that has
been extracted from the International Directory of Botanical Gardens
(1990). Other information has been gathered from recent publications or
other materials supplied to BGCI, by botanic gardens in many parts of
the World. While much useful data are supplied in this Directory, BGCI
recognizes that no publication of this kind can ever be complete or
entirely up to date. It is our intention to continue our work in this
regard and we invite those institutions maintaining living plant
collections of medicinal plants species to contact us and help correct
and improve the information included here and its usefulness.
The Directory is arranged alphabetically, by country and then by town
(upper case). The full address and telephone/fax number are given,
where known. The categories in the Directory have been distilled from
the vast quantity of information available to us, and are as follows:
Maintains living collections of medicinal plants
Maintains a living field collection
Undertakes research in medicinal plants
Undertakes research in pharmacognosy
Undertakes research in ethnobotany
Special collections:
Special gardens:
Key reference:
Additional information is kept to a minimum in the interest of
succinctness and on the basis that a contact address has been supplied
should further information be required. E-mail numbers are included
where known and where the email address is that of the institution and
not an individual.
The Directory contains 322 entries for botanic gardens and other
institutions with significant medicinal plant living collections. Many
of the botanic gardens documented in this Directory included notable
botanic garden-based medicinal plant collection in many developing
countries. These include Cameroon, China, Colombia, India, Sri Lanka,
Vietnam. The northern countries are also well represented, such as in
Europe, where some of the oldest botanic gardens were first established
as physic gardens and continue to play this role.
In the analysis of the information presented in the Directory it becomes
clear how important botanic gardens currently are for the conservation
of medicinal plants. Botanic gardens can and are playing a major part
in conserving the diversity of medicinal plant species. The Directory
illustrates the key role that botanic gardens can play in the future in
resolving many of the immediate threats and the longer-dilemmas that are
facing the sustainability of people’s reliance upon the wild medicinal
flora of the world.
BGCI estimates that up to one-third of the plant species of the world,
perhaps 80,000 species, are already in cultivation in one or more
botanic gardens or arboreta. In its computer database, BGCI holds data
on the whereabouts of over 10,000 rare and endangered taxa being
conserved in cultivation by botanic gardens worldwide. Clearly botanic
gardens have the capacity to act as significant back-up conservation
facilities for other forms of plant conservation carried out in the
wild.
Botanic gardens have already developed an expertise in both the
propagation and cultivation of a huge diversity of wild plant species.
Botanic gardens can take a leading role in conservation and management
plans for will habitats and the species they contain and in the
establishment of sustainable wild harvesting regimes. Whether working
with the local communities, whose primary health requirements must be
met, or by working with collectors whose livelihood depend upon the wild
harvesting of medicinal plants, botanic gardens can take a responsive
and imaginative part in meeting both a diversity of needs and a clear
plant conservation remit.
Some botanic gardens are already playing an active role in medicinal
plant study and research. Their extensive collections are easily
accessed and available, for example, to provide material for those
working to assess the value and safety of particular herbal medicines.
Botanic gardens can provide the expertise to improve the agronomy of
medicinal plants and bring into cultivation those species needed in
medicine that have not been cultivated before. Most medicinal plants
are at present grown as unimproved wild plants, and so tend to be very
variable. Effective plant breeding requires access to a wide range of
genetic variation as a starting material. Botanic gardens have an
important role in the development of a gene pool of wild stock plants
which can contribute to breeding programmes.
Many of these botanic gardens currently provide plant material for
medicinal research and pharmaceutical screening (Edwards 1996). In
Africa, medicinal plants have been identified by agencies such as
UNESCO, FAO, IUCN and WWF as an area where botanic gardens have
considerable potential to become national centres for research,
conservation and education (Cunningham, 1993). This brings with it
responsibilities as well as opportunities. In the preparation of this
Directory, we are very much aware of the special responsibilities on
BGCI and on the holders of these collections, to ensure that they are
managed in accordance with the provisions of the International
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Convention affirms the
sovereign rights of states over their genetic resources and the
importance of ensuring that any benefits derived from the use of such
genetic resources are fairly and equitably shared with source countries.
There is clearly considerable actual and potential use of garden
collections of medicinal plants for bioprospecting. It is extremely
important therefore that any institution that is supplying material for
pharmaceutical screening or other commercial purposes, should do so with
the prior informed agreement of those institutions or countries that
originally supplied the material to them. The use of such plant
material and its transfer should also be managed subject to appropriate
legal agreements, so that the rights of stakeholders can be protected.
BGCI would be pleased to assist any botanic garden in matters relating
to the convention, particularly towards the development of individual
institutional policies to help in its implementation. See Appendix 1
for where further information on the convention and its implications can
be found.
potential roles with regard to medicinal plant conservation. However,
to date, little work has been undertaken to promote this role through
international coordination and effective networking. The links between
botanic gardens and other organizations active in medicinal plants
research and development are still inadequate. In many cases,
conservation efforts have lacked co-ordination and limited resources
have been dissipated, by inadequate networking. But there is, also, an
untapped potential for the development of further co-ordination and
greater liaison between botanic gardens, other institutions and the
community, for medicinal plant conservation.
Botanic gardens work in a vast and diverse arena. They can provide
secure, back-up conservation facilities for other forms of plant
conservation carried our in the wild. Botanic gardens can work with
local people, to address local conservation priorities and can document
the utilisation, trade and wild harvesting of their native species. By
responding to the duties and responsibilities of their government to the
CBD, and to other legislation that has significance to the conservation
of national genetic biodiversity, botanic gardens can promote and
catalyse political responses to the needs of medicinal plants
conservation. By supporting existing institutions and legislative
bodies in the enforcement of protective legislation, they can join and
promote national and international networks and develop and promulgate
environmental education both locally and nationally. It is clearly that
only as part of wider community, can botanic gardens effectively take a
leading role in the conservation of medicinal plants.
An important priority for BGCI is to work with other organisations such
as the Medicinal plants Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival
Commission and institutions active in medicinal plant conservation, to
distribute and disseminate news, information and policy guidance to the
botanic garden network. The Directory is part of that process. It is
hoped that by presenting a picture of the current work being undertaken
in this field, the Directory will provide an invaluable tool in alerting
the botanic garden community to the work of their colleagues and in
assisting a
co-ordinated approach to future medicinal plant conservation efforts.
Fiona Dennis and Peter Wyse Jackson
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
September, 1998
By:
Fiona Dennis and Peter Wyse Jackson
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
September, 1998
Introduction:
In 1997, BGCI began the compilation of the Directory of Medicinal Plant
Collections in Botanic Gardens. The aim of the Directory is to collate
and make accessible, information on the work being undertaken by botanic
gardens on the cultivation and research of Medicinal plants and
medicinal plant conservation. This information can be used to assist a
botanic garden wanting to develop a strategic plan for the conservation
of medicinal plants in their institution, and their country. The
Directory can, by offering immediate potential links with existing
botanic gardens, enable the experience and the knowledge of each botanic
garden to be shared. The opportunities for collaborative projects,
joint funding applications, skills exchanges, data sharing and resource
sharing can be explored, and the limited resources of botanic gardens
can be used more efficiently and more effectively.
The majority of the information contained in the Directory has compiled
from the computer databases of Botanic Gardens Conservation
International. Some additional information has been included that has
been extracted from the International Directory of Botanical Gardens
(1990). Other information has been gathered from recent publications or
other materials supplied to BGCI, by botanic gardens in many parts of
the World. While much useful data are supplied in this Directory, BGCI
recognizes that no publication of this kind can ever be complete or
entirely up to date. It is our intention to continue our work in this
regard and we invite those institutions maintaining living plant
collections of medicinal plants species to contact us and help correct
and improve the information included here and its usefulness.
The Directory is arranged alphabetically, by country and then by town
(upper case). The full address and telephone/fax number are given,
where known. The categories in the Directory have been distilled from
the vast quantity of information available to us, and are as follows:
Maintains living collections of medicinal plants
Maintains a living field collection
Undertakes research in medicinal plants
Undertakes research in pharmacognosy
Undertakes research in ethnobotany
Special collections:
Special gardens:
Key reference:
Additional information is kept to a minimum in the interest of
succinctness and on the basis that a contact address has been supplied
should further information be required. E-mail numbers are included
where known and where the email address is that of the institution and
not an individual.
The Directory contains 322 entries for botanic gardens and other
institutions with significant medicinal plant living collections. Many
of the botanic gardens documented in this Directory included notable
botanic garden-based medicinal plant collection in many developing
countries. These include Cameroon, China, Colombia, India, Sri Lanka,
Vietnam. The northern countries are also well represented, such as in
Europe, where some of the oldest botanic gardens were first established
as physic gardens and continue to play this role.
In the analysis of the information presented in the Directory it becomes
clear how important botanic gardens currently are for the conservation
of medicinal plants. Botanic gardens can and are playing a major part
in conserving the diversity of medicinal plant species. The Directory
illustrates the key role that botanic gardens can play in the future in
resolving many of the immediate threats and the longer-dilemmas that are
facing the sustainability of people’s reliance upon the wild medicinal
flora of the world.
BGCI estimates that up to one-third of the plant species of the world,
perhaps 80,000 species, are already in cultivation in one or more
botanic gardens or arboreta. In its computer database, BGCI holds data
on the whereabouts of over 10,000 rare and endangered taxa being
conserved in cultivation by botanic gardens worldwide. Clearly botanic
gardens have the capacity to act as significant back-up conservation
facilities for other forms of plant conservation carried out in the
wild.
Botanic gardens have already developed an expertise in both the
propagation and cultivation of a huge diversity of wild plant species.
Botanic gardens can take a leading role in conservation and management
plans for will habitats and the species they contain and in the
establishment of sustainable wild harvesting regimes. Whether working
with the local communities, whose primary health requirements must be
met, or by working with collectors whose livelihood depend upon the wild
harvesting of medicinal plants, botanic gardens can take a responsive
and imaginative part in meeting both a diversity of needs and a clear
plant conservation remit.
Some botanic gardens are already playing an active role in medicinal
plant study and research. Their extensive collections are easily
accessed and available, for example, to provide material for those
working to assess the value and safety of particular herbal medicines.
Botanic gardens can provide the expertise to improve the agronomy of
medicinal plants and bring into cultivation those species needed in
medicine that have not been cultivated before. Most medicinal plants
are at present grown as unimproved wild plants, and so tend to be very
variable. Effective plant breeding requires access to a wide range of
genetic variation as a starting material. Botanic gardens have an
important role in the development of a gene pool of wild stock plants
which can contribute to breeding programmes.
Many of these botanic gardens currently provide plant material for
medicinal research and pharmaceutical screening (Edwards 1996). In
Africa, medicinal plants have been identified by agencies such as
UNESCO, FAO, IUCN and WWF as an area where botanic gardens have
considerable potential to become national centres for research,
conservation and education (Cunningham, 1993). This brings with it
responsibilities as well as opportunities. In the preparation of this
Directory, we are very much aware of the special responsibilities on
BGCI and on the holders of these collections, to ensure that they are
managed in accordance with the provisions of the International
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Convention affirms the
sovereign rights of states over their genetic resources and the
importance of ensuring that any benefits derived from the use of such
genetic resources are fairly and equitably shared with source countries.
There is clearly considerable actual and potential use of garden
collections of medicinal plants for bioprospecting. It is extremely
important therefore that any institution that is supplying material for
pharmaceutical screening or other commercial purposes, should do so with
the prior informed agreement of those institutions or countries that
originally supplied the material to them. The use of such plant
material and its transfer should also be managed subject to appropriate
legal agreements, so that the rights of stakeholders can be protected.
BGCI would be pleased to assist any botanic garden in matters relating
to the convention, particularly towards the development of individual
institutional policies to help in its implementation. See Appendix 1
for where further information on the convention and its implications can
be found.
>From the Directory we can see that there is already an impressive totalof botanic gardens around the world that are aware of their actual and
potential roles with regard to medicinal plant conservation. However,
to date, little work has been undertaken to promote this role through
international coordination and effective networking. The links between
botanic gardens and other organizations active in medicinal plants
research and development are still inadequate. In many cases,
conservation efforts have lacked co-ordination and limited resources
have been dissipated, by inadequate networking. But there is, also, an
untapped potential for the development of further co-ordination and
greater liaison between botanic gardens, other institutions and the
community, for medicinal plant conservation.
Botanic gardens work in a vast and diverse arena. They can provide
secure, back-up conservation facilities for other forms of plant
conservation carried our in the wild. Botanic gardens can work with
local people, to address local conservation priorities and can document
the utilisation, trade and wild harvesting of their native species. By
responding to the duties and responsibilities of their government to the
CBD, and to other legislation that has significance to the conservation
of national genetic biodiversity, botanic gardens can promote and
catalyse political responses to the needs of medicinal plants
conservation. By supporting existing institutions and legislative
bodies in the enforcement of protective legislation, they can join and
promote national and international networks and develop and promulgate
environmental education both locally and nationally. It is clearly that
only as part of wider community, can botanic gardens effectively take a
leading role in the conservation of medicinal plants.
An important priority for BGCI is to work with other organisations such
as the Medicinal plants Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival
Commission and institutions active in medicinal plant conservation, to
distribute and disseminate news, information and policy guidance to the
botanic garden network. The Directory is part of that process. It is
hoped that by presenting a picture of the current work being undertaken
in this field, the Directory will provide an invaluable tool in alerting
the botanic garden community to the work of their colleagues and in
assisting a
co-ordinated approach to future medicinal plant conservation efforts.
Fiona Dennis and Peter Wyse Jackson
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
September, 1998
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