National Herbarium

The need for a herbarium in the country was recognized by implementing the nationally significant Flora of Bhutan project in the early 1970s when major botanical collections and expeditions were initiated. The key achievements of the flora project are collections of representative herbarium specimens and the commencement of publications on the Flora of Bhutan. The specimens collected were mainly deposited at the renowned international herbaria of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the Royal Botanic Garden Kew, the British Museum (Natural History), Tokyo University, and the Indian Botanic Garden. However, the duplicates were retained in the herbarium under the then Department of Forests. Later in 1987, the herbarium was shifted to the Forestry Research Centre at Taba. However, several specimens deteriorated due to a lack of proper storage facilities.

Finally, it was moved to the present location at Serbithang under the National Biodiversity Centre. In 1998, the “National Herbarium and Flora of Bhutan project” were initiated with financial support from DANIDA. The National Herbarium was established and the publication of three volumes comprising nine books on the Flora of Bhutan was completed. In 2003, the National Herbarium became operational with basic facilities, and the Flora of Bhutan publications was conducted with financial support from DANIDA. In addition, capacity was built in the fields of botany, taxonomy, and herbarium techniques, and national and international collaborations were developed.

The collection of representative specimens was prioritized to strengthen explorations, collections, and documentation of the floristic diversity in the country through several botanical projects namely the:

1. Bhutan Fern project was implemented during the 9th FYP and resulted in a collection of 2539 specimens. A checklist of 411 species was published.
2. Pilot project on invasive plant species of Bhutan was implemented in 2008-2009 with funding support under the framework of the Program for SouthSouth Cooperation (PSC) between Benin, Bhutan, and Costa Rica.
3. Comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts on endemic plant diversity along the bio-geographic elevation gradients in four eco-floristic zones in Bhutan with funding support from the BTFEC from 2012-2015.
4. Impact assessment of invasive plants in Bhutan was conducted as one of the project components under the EU-GCCA project.
5. Red listing of Bhutan’s Endemic Plant Species was implemented from 2014-2015, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Network Japan (BDNJ) with financial support from Toyota Motors, Japan, and technical support from IUCN.
6. Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in HANAs (High Altitude Northern Areas of Bhutan) was implemented from 2015-2017 through funding support from the BTFEC.