The TAI Herbarium of the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at National Taiwan University houses one of the oldest and largest collections of vascular plants in Taiwan. The TAI collection includes approximately 250,000 plant specimens and more than 1,000 types upon which a unique plant name and original description are based. To preserve the collection images and for a maximal utilization of the specimen information, a computerized data storage and retrieval system has been developed and is now freely available on the internet [http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw]. The digital herbarium system is a fully searchable database of specimen images, label data, and collection locations. In addition, an digital repository of significant historical books and other materials is also available online. The ten specialties of the archives include: (1) Flora of Taiwan, 1^st edition (1975-1979); (2) Flora of Taiwan, 2^nd edition (1993-2003); (3) Iconum Plantarum Formosanarum (Hayata, Bunzo, 1911-1921); (4) Supplementa Iconum Plantarum Formosanarum by Yamamoto, Yoshimatsu (1925-1932); (5) A List of Plants from Formosa by Henry, Augustine (1896); (6) Flowers and Flower Deities of the Months in Chinese Lunar Calendar by Yang, Chai-Yi (unpublished); (7) Kudoa (1933-1937); (8) Flora of Northern Karafuto by Kudo, Yushun (1924); (9) Type specimens of TAI; and (10) Orchidaceae specimens of Taiwan deposited in the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History, Japan. Both editions of the Flora of Taiwan contain identification keys, familial, generic, and species descriptions, synonymy, habitats, altitudinal ranges, distribution information, and representative specimen citations which are especially useful not only to regional botanists, gardeners and horticulturalists, but also to national and international scholars and researchers.

National Taiwan University Herbarium Digital Archives Project