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A few words on our commemoration of 80 years at KIB

Hang Sun,Yongping Yang,Zhekun Zhou

Published 2018 in Plant Diversity

ABSTRACT

Eighty years ago, a botanical institute called “the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Botany” was jointly founded by the Jingsheng Biology Institute and the Yunnan State Department of Education in Kunming. At that time, the Heilong Dragon Park became the institute's home (Fig. 1) and the research conducted there mostly focused on taxonomy and economical botany. When the institute came under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Science, it still had fewer than 20 staff members. In 1950, the institute changed its name to theWorking Station of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science. The station received support from different levels of government, which allowed for new offices, a herbarium, laboratories, and a greenhouse to gradually be built (Fig. 2). Shortly thereafter, research at the institute began to increase. In 1959, the station became the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science (KIB). KIB developed rapidly, and over the past four decades has achieved great success. From the 1970se2010s, KIB led or played an important role in several scientific explorations, such as the first and second “Comprehensive Scientific Expedition on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,” the “Scientific Expedition on Hengduan Mountains,” and the “Scientific Expedition on Tropical Yunnan.” Integrating the new findings from these expeditions with long-term taxonomic studies, KIB published or jointly published a series of monographs: “Florae Republicae Popularis Sinicae (FRPS),” “Flora of China,” Flora Yunnanica,” “Flora Xizangica,” “Vegetation of China,” and “Vegetation of Yunnan. The compilation of these monographs helped answer two very basic questions: howmany plant species are there in China and where do they grow? This basic information has been important for phytochemistry research and has already led to the discovery of more than ten new medicines. In addition to research, KIB is attentive to the needs of our country, society, as well as biodiversity conservation. In the 1950s, KIB surveyed suitable regions for rubber tree plantations, and in the 1960s the institute proposed establishing nature reserves. In the 1970s, KIB successfully cultivated Grastroida elata, a type of orchid used in Chinese medicine. To protect the endangered and endemic plants of China, KIB established the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in the 1990s. Thus far, KIB has published over 10,000 papers, among which 5288 are SCI-listed, including 595 that are published in the top 15% of all academic journals. KIB has also been issued 140 patents, won 20 awards for scientific research on or above the provincial level, including one Yunnan State Natural Science Special Prize, three Yunnan State Natural Science first prizes, and two Yunnan

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