The Australian National Botanic Gardens maintains the largest scientific collection of Australian native plants. The collection originates from plants sourced from the wild, accompanied by herbarium specimens for taxonomic study. Herbarium specimens are stored in the Australian National Herbarium.
Currently the Gardens maintains a living collection of around 74,000 individual plants arranged in 40 hectares of themed gardens. This collection features over 6,200 species which represent around a third of Australia's native plants.
The Gardens maintain significant collection of some Australian genera.
Researchers can use the Gardens living material or specimens from the Australian National Herbarium confident of the background provenance of the plants and their current classification and naming. Permits are required to conduct research in the Gardens and remove plant material.
We propagate our plants in a state-of-the-art production nursery and maintain records on the status of the living collections after they are planted in the Gardens.
Our other facilities for growing plants and research include a library, tropical glasshouse and Australian National Seedbank.
Information on our plants is stored on database. This enables us to keep up-to-date records and to find living plants in the gardens and what plants are growing in each section of the Gardens .
Useful Links
- Profile of Living Collections - see our current plant collections
- Records - The Plant Records Unit maintains the database of information on the status of the living collections after they are planted in the Gardens
- Australian National Herbarium - Find out more about where our specimens are stored
- Permits - Find out what permits you need to conduct research in the Gardens and remove plant material
- Nursery - Find out more about our plant propagation
- Themed gardens - See the many themed garden throughout the Australian National Botanic Gardens
- Australian National Seedbank - Home to a large and ever-increasing collection of Australian native seeds