A Study on the Current Status of Plant-Holdings of Major Arboreta and Botanical Gardens in Korea

This study was carried out of figure out the current status of plant holdings of arboreta (botanical gardens) in Korea and to establish the sound basis for plant resource management by means of analyzing "A Comprehensive Bibliography of Botanical Gardens" (Korean Association of botanical Gardens, 1991). The total number of taxa, which consist of 225 families and 1,428 genera, was 9,481 kinds. Those taxa include 4,793 species, 735 varieties, and 3,953 infraspecific taxa. respectively. And the total plant holdings were classified into 2,(H)I kinds of plants native to Korea and 7.480 kinds of plants introduced. Species holdings of major arboreta were 4,497 kinds at the Chollipo Arboretum. 2,719 kinds at the Kwangneung Arboretum, 1,614 kinds at the Cheju Fantasy Garden, 931 kinds at the Seoul Grand Park, and 740 kinds at the Kwanak Arboretum of Seoul National University. The present collection priorities for those arboreta were mostly confined to specific families and genera, and also showing increasing trends of introducing more exotic species rather than native ones