BBG’s Plant Collection

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Situated on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn, the Garden is home to over 10,000 kinds of plants. Most taxa currently grown at BBG can be found in this searchable database.

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About BBG's Plant Records

As of , BBG’s Plant Information Records System contains current records. Additional information held in the database includes source, date of acquisition, synonyms, authorities, number of plants received, original seed or parent accession number, status of plant, status of the taxon in the wild, taxonomic verification, flowering times, and whether the plant was received as seed, cutting, or rooted material.

The following statistics from the database are current as of :

Accessions at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Living accessions

Unique Taxa

Wild origin accessions (living)

Labels and Accession Numbers

Currently, most living plants at BBG are given an eight-digit accession number. The first four digits indicate the year the material was received, and the last four are sequential numbers starting with 0001 for the first plant of the year (for example, 20110001). Prior to the year 2001, all plants received a six-digit accession number. The first two digits indicate the year the material was received and the last four are sequential numbers for that year, starting with 0001. Plants with accession numbers starting with "X" represent plants whose origins are unknown. Short-lived plants or temporary display plants, such as annuals and tulips, are currently not accessioned.

Plants on public display are given a label with the plant's common name, scientific name, cultivar or trademark name, common family name, and scientific family name. Also included are its native distribution information and accession number.

Periodic checks assure that plant labels remain with the correct plants and are in good condition. Priority is given to material of known wild provenance, genera that BBG specializes in (forsythia, magnolia, Japanese flowering cherries, and wisteria), taxa listed in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants (Walter & Gillett, 1998) and long-lived woody plants. In support of the curation of the living collection, Brooklyn Botanic Garden maintains a herbarium of approximately 297,000 preserved specimens, including approximately 7,000 specimens collected from the grounds, and a botanical library of approximately 56,500 volumes.

How to Request Material from BBG's Living Collections

Requests from botanical and horticultural institutions for plant material for research or educational purposes should be addressed to:

Director of Plant Collections, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
1000 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225
[email protected]