The two-day Workshop on the Establishment of Digital Botanical Gardens sponsored by XTBG was closed on June 6, with fruitful results.

  On the first day of the workshop, 14 reports were delivered, representatives introducing the establishment of digital botanical gardens and applications of related technologies at their own institutes. On the second day, group discussions on “plant mapping methods and information capturing in complex gardens”, “applications of outdoor plant information capturing systems”, and “background management of plant information network databases” were held respectively, which were based on the management of digital botanical garden at XTBG. The participants exchanged ideas on the problems and possible solutions for the establishment of digital botanical gardens. Afterwards, the participants made field investigations in XTBG.

  Such hot spots as the unified standard of plant information records, accuracy of planting maps, materials for plant labels, RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and intelligent information capturing etc. were discussed during the sidelines.

 At the workshop, participants reached agreement that a BBS forum for digital botanical gardens is to be established at www.emay.com.cn. A union for digital botanical gardens was proposed to be set up. An information sharing platform for ex situ plant conservation among Chinese botanical gardens is expected to be built up, which is significant for the prosperous development of botanical gardens in China.