ABSTRACT
There are approximately 2,200 botanic gardens in 153 countries, with an associated 142 million herbarium specimens and over 6 million living collection accessions (Wyse Jackson, 2001). About 70 percent of botanic gardens are in developed countries, and live plant and seed holdings tend to be strongly biased toward cool-and warmtemperate taxa. There are, however, appreciable and growing numbers of botanic gardens in developing countries with increasing capabilities to acquire and grow local species.
