On a balmy Saturday in March, Chris Chang (張家豪) and his parents were among the scores of people leisurely strolling around the Taipei Botanical Garden in the heart of the nation’s capital. Like many nearby residents, the Changs are frequent visitors to the lush grounds, often spending sunny weekend afternoons taking in the site’s glistening ponds, soaring trees and vibrant flowers. “The garden, with its huge variety of beautiful plants and giant trees, is an incredibly tranquil place,” says Chang, a thirtysomething. “That’s why we come here regularly and why we always have an enjoyable time.”
The Taipei Botanical Garden, the oldest facility of its kind in the country, is one of five such sites operated by the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture. The others are the Fushan Botanical Garden, Lienhuachih Medicinal Herb Garden, Chiayi Botanical Garden, and Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden in northeastern, central, southern and southernmost Taiwan, respectively. In addition to serving as recreational attractions, these facilities play vital roles in promoting plant conservation and research. The 8-hectare Taipei Botanical Garden, which traces its origins back to a nursery built in 1896, houses some 2,000 native and exotic species of flora. It is also home to a herbarium that boasts a collection of more than 485,000 specimen sheets as well as seeds from around 1,300 varieties of plants. The samples in this seed bank are used in conservation programs and germination experiments.
A volunteer tour guide, left, introduces some of the plants in the botanical garden’s extensive collection to a group of visitors. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute)
Y. Star Huang (黃裕星), director-general of the TFRI, notes that most of Taiwan’s major botanical gardens were established during the period of Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945) for conducting research on indigenous plant species as well as varieties imported from Southeast Asian countries. “The Japanese wanted to determine the economic value of various types of subtropical flora,” he explains. “Nowadays, local botanical gardens are still engaged in seed collection and plant research, but they have also taken on important roles as learning centers and leisure facilities.”
Due to their markedly different settings and resources, the TFRI’s five botanical gardens emphasize these functions to varying degrees. The Taipei and Chiayi sites, both of which are in metropolitan areas, place greater focus on providing educational and recreational resources to the public, while the Fushan and Hengchun botanical gardens, which are adjacent to large forested regions, concentrate on promoting conservation and scientific research. Meanwhile, the Lienhuachih Medicinal Herb Garden, which is located in Nantou County and was originally established in 1918, has cultivated nearly 400 varieties of medicinal plants on a three-hectare site, and carries out a range of studies in cooperation with local medical schools.
As part of its mission to enhance public understanding of ecology, the Taipei Botanical Garden has trained around 200 volunteers to conduct guided tours of the facility during weekends and holidays. It also organizes frequent classes and workshops. In contrast, the Fushan site, which officially opened in 1990 in a mountainous region along the border between Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township and the area now known as Wulai District of New Taipei City, began restricting access in late 1993 to reduce the impact that human activity was having on the local environment and wildlife. At present, the number of daily visitors to Fushan is limited to 500 on weekdays and 600 on weekends and holidays. Those interested in touring the site must also make an online reservation at least 35 days in advance. And the botanical garden is closed every March for wildlife breeding season.
A volunteer at the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium sews dried and pressed plant specimens onto acid-free paper. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
“With Fushan, we’ve managed to achieve an excellent balance between offering quality recreational opportunities to the public and preserving the region’s natural resources,” Huang says. “The site is also a model for integrating in situ and ex situ conservation approaches.” In situ refers to the process of protecting an endangered species in its natural habitat, while ex situ involves relocating part of a threatened population to a new environment, whether that is a different wilderness area or an indoor cultivation facility.
The botanical garden in northeastern Taiwan is part of an expansive natural region known as the Fushan Experimental Forest. The Fushan Research Center, which manages the entire protected area, has divided the forest into three sections—the botanical garden, which is spread across 410 hectares; the 333-hectare Hapen Nature Reserve; and a 356-hectare water resources reserve. The general public is only permitted to enter a 30-hectare segment of the botanical garden.
As a result of the TFRI’s extensive efforts to protect the local environment, Fushan has become an ideal location for carrying out ecological experiments and surveys. Yu Han-ming (游漢明), head of the research center, says that since its establishment, the botanical garden has attracted numerous domestic and foreign scholars seeking to conduct studies in such fields as botany, hydrology, meteorology, and zoology. These efforts have so far led to the publication of more than 200 research papers.
“The Fushan facility is distinct from the majority of other botanical gardens established earlier by the Japanese colonial government in that it focuses predominately on native plants,” Yu notes. To date, it has collected and cultivated more than 800 indigenous varieties of flora, including endangered species such as the Chinese Bretschneidera, Kanehira azalea and Taiwan cow-tail fir; endemic plants from the Fagaceae and Lauraceae families; and various types of broadleaf trees.
The Fushan Botanical Garden in northeastern Taiwan contains more than 800 indigenous species of flora. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute)
The Fushan Research Center promotes awareness of conservation methods through exhibits and multimedia presentations at the site’s Nature Center, though Yu notes that the institute is primarily focused on implementing preservation projects rather than educating the public. The center contains greenhouses and nurseries where botanists collect critical baseline data about the lifecycles of rare and endangered species. This research helps improve the efficiency of propagation efforts.
In a manner similar to Fushan, the Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung County constitutes one part of a large protected area that was established in part to safeguard threatened plant populations. The botanical garden consists of a 64-hectare site adjacent to a 265-hectare forest and a 138-hectare uplifted coral reef conservation region. All three areas are managed by the Hengchun Research Center, which allows only accredited scientists to explore the forest and coral reef.
Established in 1906, the Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden contains some 1,000 native species of flora. It primarily hosts plants found in the Hengchun Peninsula as well as species from Green Island and Orchid Island, which are located off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. The peninsula’s tropical monsoon climate and unique geographical features mean that it is home to a considerable number of plants rarely found elsewhere on the island, such as the looking-glass mangrove and the weeping fig.
Located in an urban area, the Chiayi Botanical Garden in southern Taiwan is a popular recreational site among local residents. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute)
“The Hengchun garden preserves not only numerous indigenous varieties of flora, but also century-old non-native plants that date back to the period of Japanese colonial rule,” notes Wang Hsiang-hua (王相華), a researcher in the TFRI’s Division of Forest Protection who served as the head of the Hengchun Research Center until March this year. “So it’s a site of great historical as well as ecological significance.”
Also known as the Kenting National Forest Recreation Area, the tropical botanical garden contains 18 thematic display zones, the majority of which showcase a specific family of plants, such as cycads, ferns or fruit trees. The areas have explanatory boards to inform visitors about the respective characteristics of these types of flora. There is also a section displaying some of the approximately 50 rare and endangered species that the research center has cultivated over the years, as well as an area focusing on aboriginal culture that highlights how certain plants were traditionally used by the island’s indigenous peoples to make clothing, dwellings, food and medicine.
At present, the Hengchun facility is working to expand its collection of tropical plants from Africa, Australia, the Americas and other Asian countries in order to make the site more appealing to visitors and better serve the needs of the local scientific community. Furthermore, it regularly trades seeds with similar institutions around the world. Amid the worrisome decline in global biodiversity, such exchange programs could prove beneficial in helping preserve threatened species of flora.
The Hengchun Tropical Botanical Garden in southernmost Taiwan is home to a considerable number of plants rarely found elsewhere on the island such as the weeping fig. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Forestry Research Institute)
In recent decades, the large-scale botanical gardens in Hengchun and Fushan have taken on increasingly significant roles in efforts to propagate and protect Taiwan’s indigenous plant species. Additionally, the TFRI has successfully used its urban facilities in Taipei and Chiayi to raise the nation’s environmental consciousness. “Our botanical gardens are wonderful recreation areas, but they are also crucial for promoting plant conservation, education and research,” director-general Huang emphasizes. “Our goal is to strike an appropriate balance between these key functions so we can help preserve Taiwan’s incredible biodiversity and in so doing promote the overall well-being of society.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw