South China Botanical Garden - CAS [Guangzhou]

South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SCBG, CAS), formerly known as the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, Sun Yat-Sen University, was founded in 1929 by the renowned botanist and academician of CAS, Chen Huanyong (Woon-young Chun). It was renamed as the South China Institute of Botany in 1954, and was changed to the present name in 2003 according to the development strategy of CAS.

Being geared to the national strategic demands and the world science frontier, SCBG has been carrying on a large amount of fundamental, strategic and forward-looking projects in the following fields: restoration and rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems, systematic and evolutionary botany, conservation and sustainable utilization of plant resources, as well as landscaping and horticulture. SCBG strives for an advanced botanical garden integrated with tropical and subtropical plant research, species conservation, science popularization, and sustainable resource utilization.

The garden is composed of three compartments: 1) a nursery and exhibition zone, viz. the arboretum, occupying an area of 300 hectares. It was designed mainly for plant ex-situ conservation with over 11,000 plant taxa grown in over 30 gardens of special collections such as magnolias, palms, gingers and orchids; 2) a research and residential zone, covering an area of 38 hectares. It features a herbarium conserving more than 1,000,000 plant specimens and a state of the art laboratory complex; and 3) the Dinghushan National Nature Reserve, established in 1956 as the only reserve of CAS. It is the first national nature reserve in China and has established one national field research station since 1999, namely National Research Station of Dinghushan Forest Ecosystems. The total area of the reserve is 1,133 hectares, where over 2,400 plant species are under in situ protection. In addition, SCBG runs two other field observation stations: National Field Research Station of Heshan Forest Ecosystem, and Xiaoliang Research Station for Restoration of Tropical Coastal Degraded Ecosystem, CAS.

Presently there are about 295 staff members in SCBG, including 65 scientific researchers with senior rank. Postgraduate students are enrolled every year, and there are more than 260 postgraduates together.The doctorate degree is conferred in three fields (botany, ecology, and biochemistry and molecular biology), and master’s degree in four fields (botany, ecology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and ornamental plants and gardening), and there is a postdoctoral scientific research mobile station for biology as well. SCBG also sets up 6 research fields, which are: 1) Global change and ecosystem services; 2) Environmental degradation and ecological restoration; 3) Plant systemics and evolutionary biology; 4) Biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization; 5) Agricultural food quality and safety and phytochemical resources; and 6) Sustainable use of plant and gene resources. There are 22 research teams included in the 6 fields.

SCBG has set up good collaborations with institutions of dozens of countries. The number of exchange scholars is up to 100 per year. More than 500,000 visitors from both home and abroad visit the arboretum every year.

SCBG has an abundance of research resources and professionals in the fields of ecology, systematic and evolutionary botany, and plant resources and biotechnology. Since 1954, more than 4000 academic papers and 330 monographs, such as Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, Flora Hainanica, Flora of Guangdong, Flora of Guangzhou, The Vegetation of Guangdong, Studies on the Tropical and Subtropical Degraded Ecosystem andIts Rehabilitation, have been issued. From 1978 through 2006, over 2300 papers were published in Chinese key journals (viz. CSCD papers) and 480 ones were published in international journals indexed in SCI. Among them there were two papers published in the two internationally authoritative journals, Nature, and Science. Since 1978, 353 research achievements have been obtained, of which 246 won prizes at various levels, including one second prize of the National Science and Technology Advance Awards. Fifty patents have been applied for, of which 30 have been licensed.

An agreement on the Reconstruction of SCBG was subscribed in December 2002, to which a total of RMB 300 million Yuan has been invested in the ratio of 1:1:1 by CAS, Guangdong provincial government and Guangzhou municipal government. Eight projects involved in the agreement were carried out with the idea of 'scientific element, artistic landscape and cultural root' in order to satisfy the people, the experts, and the government. The great improvements in infrastructure, landscape and scientific components through the Reconstruction has laid a solid foundation for SCBG to be one of the top gardens in Asia or even in the world.

Address: Xingke Road #723, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China

Postcode: 510650, E-mail: bgs@scbg.ac.cn

Tel: 86-20-37252711, Fax: 86-20-37252831