Taiwan Today

Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden is a living archive of endemic and rare flora.

In Taiwan’s tropical south, climate and weather patterns affect heat, leavening high temperatures with soft breezes and sudden rain. Ocean currents from the Pacific and South China Sea converge offshore and create storms that sweep across the land, shaping a unique ecosystem full of specialized climate-adapted plants and shrubs. Climatically and biologically, Hengchun Peninsula stands apart. South of the Tropic of Cancer, it is Taiwan Island’s only region with year-round tropical warmth and pronounced wet and dry seasons. Its flora is distinct from Taiwan’s subtropical regions, having evolved in isolation amid limestone geology and strong monsoon winds. “More than a thousand plant species have been recorded here, including over 200 rare taxa,” said Huang Chun-yuan (黃俊元), director of Hengchun Research Center. For plants dispersed from across oceans, the peninsula often serves as a first landfall.

The center administers Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden, a facility that covers nearly 64 hectares of uplifted coral limestone. The garden dates to the early 20th century, when Japanese botanist Antei Tashiro laid the foundations of tropical plant research in Taiwan with a 1901 proposal to establish a site on Hengchun Peninsula for tropical plant experimentation. The Hengchun Tropical Plant Cultivation Farm was formally established the next year under the Bureau of Productive Industries, and offices, dormitories and nurseries were added in 1907.

The site was formally designated the Tropical Useful Plant Specimen Garden in 1908 and undertook to gather useful tropical plants from around the world to see which might be productively developed in Taiwan. The garden received its current name in 1945 and was incorporated into what is now Kenting National Forest Recreation Area in 1968 to combine research with recreation. Land ownership and plant management remain with the facility’s administrator, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, while visitor services, exhibitions, environmental maintenance and ticketing are handled by the local branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency.

Record and Research
Adjacent to Sheding Nature Park within Kenting National Park, the garden forms part of a larger ecological continuum shaped by monsoons and long-term isolation. “What distinguishes the garden today is its role as a living archive,” said Huang. The germplasm bank is organized into 17 thematic zones, some defined by human history, such as the Ethno-plant Collection, which documents species historically used in Indigenous medicine and the crafting of useful goods. Others follow geography, including regional collections for Orchid Island and Green Island, safeguarding small, isolated populations vulnerable to typhoons and other natural threats. Additional zones focus on plants endemic to Hengchun Peninsula, aquatic plants and specialized groups such as crotons and ferns. Together, these collections act as a biological bulwark against an uncertain future by preserving species whose natural habitats are increasingly constrained.

Beyond serving as a living archive, the Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden functions as a site for systematic botanical research and long-term ecological observation. “Scientists, technicians and horticultural staff here work with plant specimens and seeds collected from Hengchun Peninsula, Green Island and Orchid Island, where tropical and subtropical floras converge to create a level of plant diversity found in few other places in Taiwan,” said Chang Yi-han (張藝翰), an associate researcher who is responsible for the Project of Future Green in Hengchun. Each year seeds from approximately 100 species are collected and documented, forming the basis of the garden’s research collections and germplasm bank. These materials support nursery cultivation, experimental planting and reintroduction while also feeding into international seed exchange programs. As a long-standing member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the institution has participated for decades in global seed sharing networks, providing thousands of seed accessions to peers worldwide and in turn receiving material for comparative study and conservation trials.

“One of our strengths is in our focus on rare and endangered plants that are difficult to study outside protected sites,” said Chang. Species such as Distylium gracile, a winter hazel, and Gonocaryum calleryanum, an evergreen shrub, have been propagated within the garden to replenish germplasm stocks and support experimental research on regeneration. Other species of interest to conservationists include Thaumastochloa chenii, Vernonia maritima and Capparis floribunda, all of which are cultivated in dedicated display zones to support scientific inquiry and public education.

Looking Forward
Including the botanical garden, the Hengchun Research Center oversees approximately 870 hectares of experimental forest, associated nurseries and the Kenting Uplifted Coral Reef Natural Reserve. The reserve protects one of Taiwan’s largest intact tropical evergreen broadleaf forests, developed on uplifted coral limestone formed hundreds of thousands of years ago. “Internationally, karst and coral reef forests are recognized for their unique assemblages of species and sensitivity to climate change, making them key sites for studying land-sea interactions, forest succession and long-term ecological stability,” said Huang.

Within this reserve lies a 10-hectare long-term forest dynamics plot, established in 1996 and surveyed to track changes over time, including species composition, size, structure, recruitment, growth and mortality, in relation to external environmental factors such as rainfall, temperature and extreme climatic events. At Hengchun, the plot documents nearly 40,000 trees across close to a hundred species, revealing an unusual structure dominated by a single persimmon species while still retaining high taxonomic diversity.

The Kenting plot is integrated into the Smithsonian Institution’s Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) network, a system of long-term forest monitoring sites that enables direct comparison between tropical forests in Asia, Africa and the Americas. “Each update cycle takes a significant amount of work, even though the field investigation only takes a few months,” said Chen Ke-fang (陳可芳), a research assistant at the Hengchun center. “Verification, cross-checking and organization of data requires a lot of effort, but it’s exciting to know that it becomes foundational material. The raw data supports a wide range of research.” Data from Hengchun contributes to international studies on forest dynamics, species coexistence and the effects of global warming on plant distribution.

As climate patterns grow increasingly unpredictable, the botanical garden and similar sites take on more significant roles. In 2019 the garden’s parent institute launched the National Botanical Garden Ark Project, moving endangered native plants to six research centers across the country to protect them from natural disasters, human impact and animal predation. The greenhouse at Hengchun has become a refuge for more than 70 rare tropical species, including the endangered Taiwanese whisk fern in the genus Psilotum. Public awareness of the vital importance of ecological resilience is growing through living collections and research that unfolds in close contact with vulnerable species, as rare and endemic plants offer examples of the adaptation and interdependence required to flourish. Beneath the shelter of Hengchun’s greenhouses, seed banks, experimental plots and propagated specimens reflect a shared belief that protecting plant life today strengthens ecological stability tomorrow. “Ecologically informed policy is crucial, requiring daily conservation and observation,” Huang said.

Write to Krakias Kai at kwhuang@mofa.gov.tw