Transformed from a nursery established in 1896, the Taipei Botanical Garden stands out not merely as a public recrea tional venue favored by many local residents. More than that, it is one of the important bases of plant conservation in Taiwan with regard to education and research, as well as the production and display of herbarium.
Near the concrete vortex of downtown Taipei's amalgam of highrises, crowds, and exhaust-belching motorscooters and cars, there lies a secluded oasis where different kinds of plants and animals live in harmony and tranquillity. Located on the city's near southwest side, the Taipei Botanical Garden occupies just over twenty acres and houses a total of 1,573 native and exotic species belonging to 202 families and 757 genera. In addition to serving as a seed orchard, parts of the site are set aside for plant breeding, and low-lying areas have been turned into ponds. The garden is divided into several ecological sections, and includes an herbarium, a forestry exhibition hall, and greenhouses.
"The major feature of the botanical garden is an exuberance of numerous giant trees with handsome foliage, a result of the garden's century-odd historical development," says Fan Yi-bin, an official with the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute's Forest Biology Division. "And its primary objective is to develop a wide collection of living tree and plant specimens for the purposes of display, education, research and conservation." Yet, due to the lack of green spaces within the Taipei metropolitan area, for a long time the majority of residents here have "utilized" the garden as a park for exercise and recreation, Fan explains.
Each day (particularly in the early morning), people visit the garden to jog, do taichi, and practice folk dances. And in the summertime, the lotus pond becomes one of Taipei's major attractions, with an extensive spread of leaves and lovely, fragrant blossoms. "In spite of this, there remains a fundamental difference between a park and a botanical garden. In the latter, the main operations are collecting and regenerating living tree specimens, as well as promoting the nature conservation concept through plant displays and ecological explanation." As such, to restore the garden's originally designated functions and purposes, the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute has over the recent past adopted several measures formulated by scholars and experts for the improvement of the garden.
Fan explains that the institute's long-standing work is gene conservation and regeneration of different species, particu larly rare and endangered ones. "Plant conservation has long been the garden's established policy, and a task that we have been conducting consistently along the way," Fan emphasizes. "The direction is twofold: one is extensive seed collection, and the other promotion of the concept of conservation among the public."
Accordingly, a seedbank has been established for experimentation on tissue cultures and propagation. Also, consider able energy and resources have been expended on the collecting of seedlings from all across the island. The staff members of the garden also travel to Europe, the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Southeast Asia to collect tree specimens to bring back for cultivation. Today, the garden's facilities and stock of plants have witnessed substantial improvements and increases, with a collection now in excess of 1,500 species. It has since made an enormous contribution to academic research and natural science education in Taiwan.
In addition to providing a wide variety of plants for display and experimentation, the Taipei Botanical Garden maintains an historic herbarium, which was built in 1904, the first of its kind on the island. The abundance of specimens collected from locations both at home and abroad enables the garden not only to develop its designated functions of education, publication and display of research materials, but also "to stand as a living cultural asset," Fan explains. The arrangement of specimens is by Engler's system for gymnospermous plants, and by Hutchinson's system for angiosperms. Thanks to the continuous addition of specimens gathered by experts and scholars over the past years, the herbarium now boasts a collection of over 100,000 specimen sheets.
Here in the garden, for purposes of botanical education, trees are all labeled according to their scientific names and with other pertinent information, including native place, as well as dates of planting, blossoming and fruit-bearing. This way, the visiting public can get to know the various features of plants more clearly and accurately. Even more significant is the fact that researchers can make use of these basic data to observe the growing conditions of various plants on a long-term basis, to determine whether certain exotic species can adapt themselves to Taiwan's climate and environment. The results of such research serve as important references for the further promotion and regeneration of plant species.
On the garden grounds, plant specimens are presented in seventeen cultivation divisions, based mainly on a plant clas sification system, and a few others according to plant habitat or practical utilization. For instance, Division 1 and Division 2 are essentially for gymnospermous plants, and Division 16 is for palm trees. Other sections cover laurels, oaks, figs, legumes, bamboos, hydrophytes, and horticultural plants. On the north and west sides of the garden there are six greenhouses and a shaded arboretum, in which a variety of plants are displayed. They also provide additional space for the conducting of experiments. Fan continues by saying that in recent years, special emphasis has been placed on the planting and rearing of rare and endangered native species, not only to preserve their genes, but also to have them regenerated and displayed to popularize the concept of nature conservation.
The promotion of the ecological conservation concept among the public, Fan emphasizes, is essential--and urgent, because the natural environment is deteriorating as a result of human destructiveness. "At present, many residents still lack a basic regard for the protection of plants, or say, the whole natural environment," Fan indicates. "We're often saddened to find some of the plants--even those with great historical significance--damaged beyond repair by our visitors." In light of this situation, the institute has had no other choice but to put rails around the display sections of various plants, although as Fan admits, the resulting appearance is not always pleasing aesthetically.
To tackle this problem effectively, the institute has been seeking to develop and promote ecological and environmental education. "Instilling the conservation concept into the mindset of the public is a must. Only when they have such awareness, can they take concrete actions to correspond to the need," Fan notes. "Even with the government's support, conservation work will not make any progress without the participation of the general public."
Because of this need for grassroots consciousness-raising, the institute has managed to recruit around 200 volunteer workers to guide visitors during the weekend or holidays, and to explain the garden to them. It also organizes frequent seminars, workshops, displays of particular plants, paintings, and even plant "beauty contests" to promote the importance of plant conservation. "We hope that, by better understanding the ties between human beings and plants, everyone will be able to give kinder protection to all these natural resources, and be more concerned about our living environment," Fan concludes. "After all, it's our responsibility to leave our descendants an adequate living space that we ourselves have enjoyed."