A selection of BRAHMS projects

Updated February 2026

The following list illustrates the types of curation and research activities we support.

Project	Details
Oxford University Herbaria and related research programmes	The historical development of BRAHMS is closely linked to the Oxford University Herbaria. More broadly, BRAHMS has coevolved with the plant diversity research activities at Oxford and the ongoing work on taxonomy, phylogenetics, forest ecology, biodiversity and conservation. As well as contributing to a fundamental understanding of plant diversity, BRAHMS assists these projects to develop and publish practical outputs that help measure, manage and conserve this diversity globally.
Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum	Oxford Botanic Garden, as well as being the first botanic garden in the UK (founded in 1621), at the UK’s oldest University, also undertakes research. Their focus is evolutionary and reproductive biology, and conservation linked to biodiversity hotspots around the world. With plant reproduction and evolution, they are exploring fundamental processes in plant reproduction and evolution using genetics and genomics, in close collaboration with scientists at the University of Oxford’s Plant Sciences Department and further afield. Working with botanists around the world, they are developing ex situ conservation plant collections of species from biodiversity hotspots - areas with high plant species richness. Their research collectively focuses on the Mediterranean Basin, Ethiopian and Japanese floristic regions. Oxford Botanic Garden is a BRAHMS development partner
National Institute of Amazonian Research	The National Institute of Amazonian Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia or INPA) is located in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. It is home to the largest herbarium in the Amazon region with over 300,000 botanical specimens. The collection is fully digitized and imaged. INPA have been using BRAHMS for the last 20 years to catalogue and image their collections. INPA are now using near-infrared spectroscopy with specimen leaf scans to build up a massive data bank that will help with specimen identification. The herbarium at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), located in Manaus, is an active research centre documenting plant collections and studying regional biodiversity. Photo provided by Mike Hopkins, INPA curator.
Brunei National Herbarium (BRUN)	The Brunei National Herbarium (BRUN) is the key centre for plant taxonony in Brunei as well as being the main repository of all plant specimens collected in the country and from neighbouring regions including Sabah, Sarawak, West Malaysia, Kalimantan, Indonesia and Singapore. BRUN distributes duplicate specimens to major international herbaria. Brunei's tropical evergreen rainforest covers some 80% of the country and of this, up to 60% is primary forest. The mangroves along the coast are the largest intact tracts in northern Borneo. The BRUN herbarium has been using BRAHMS since 2010 and in September 2026, upgraded to the new BRAHMS system which operates on their local herbarium network. A high percentage of their specimens have been imaged. Brunei has an unusually high percentage of intact mixed dipterocarp forest cover with high diversity. The BRUN herbarium and forest department staff undertake regular field trips for plant collection and forest assessment.
Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM)	The KEP herbarium of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is one of the foremost botanical research institutions in SE Asia with over 300,000 well-maintained botanical specimens. While its focus is the diverse flora of the Malay Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak, it has significant collections from other regions in SE Asia with important collections of all vascular plants including bamboos, rattans, palms, gingers, and other herbaceous families (e.g. Gesneriaceae), orchids, climbers, ferns and lycophytes. The Dipterocarpaceae are especially well represented. The KEP herbarium is actively involved in publishing floras for the Malesian region as well as supporting numerous conservation-related research initiatives. BRAHMS has been in use at the herbarium over the last 25 years. The KEP herbarium is based at Kepong near Kuala Lumpur on Peninsular Malaysia.
Seed Portal for Online Data (SeedPOD)	RBG Kew's Seed Portal for Online Data, SeedPOD, aggregates high-quality, detailed data on seed collections from wild populations throughout each plant's global distribution range. The database includes field data, seed collections and processing data, viability test and X-ray data, and seed stock and availability data. SeedPOD is a publicly available resource, which will be published to BRAHMS online in summer 2026. In making data freely available, SeedPOD will empower seed-based conservation and restoration activities, including scientific research.
National Parks Board, Singapore	We have been working with the Singapore National Herbarium since 2005. As of 2025, an exciting new project has been developed with the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks). Among many other activities, NParks leads efforts in biodiversity documentation and conservation in Singapore. The new BRAHMS project will merge data from the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Herbarium, Seed and DNA banks into an integrated, cloud-based biodiversity management system. The living and preserved collections include materials mostly from the Malesian biogeographic region and adjacent areas with the most extensive collections from Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, these dating from the 1880s. Singapore Botanic Garden, Herbarium, Seed and DNA bank.
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership	The Millennium Seed Bank's global network, the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP), is the largest ex situ plant conservation programme in the world. BRAHMS is used to collate seed bank data from more than 100 countries, consisting of over 240,000 records and 400,000 germination test results from across the Seed Bank Partnership.
National Forestry Herbarium, New Zealand	The National Forestry Herbarium (NZFRI), now integrated with the New Zealand Bioeconomy Science Institute, specialises in cultivated tree species associated with forestry and amenity planting, and includes extensive collections of eucalyptus and pine species. It also contains a wide range of New Zealand native and naturalised plants and is the regional herbarium for the Bay of Plenty, East Cape and central North Island of New Zealand. National Forestry Herbarium, New Zealand
Zurich Succulent Plant Collection	The Zurich Succulent Plant Collection (herbarium / garden acronym ZSS) was founded in 1931 and is devoted to the biodiversity of succulent plants from around the world. The living collection is made up by some 22'000 plants of 4400 species of succulents, mainly displayed in seven greenhouses and an outside rockery open to the public with free admission. We databased our plants plus the associated specialized library (some 3400 books and 400 journal series) and herbarium (some 30'000 specimens) since 1988. This database was moved to BRAHMS at the end of 2023, and since February 2024, BRAHMS is used for all our daily operational needs in the living collection, herbarium and library, as well as for compiling the texts for the series "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants". The Zurich Succulent Plant Collection
PBI Solanum: A worldwide treatment	The Solanum project moved from BRAHMS v7 to v8 during 2023, at the same time moving their data to a cloud server running PostgreSQL. The project aims to provide a worldwide taxonomic monograph of the nightshade family whose species are used as food (potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants), medicines (henbane and deadly nightshades) and in horticulture (petunias). Solanum is one of a handful of genera with over 1000 species. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Solanum project as part of the Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBI) mission. Solanaceae
The Eden Project	The Eden Project migrated their data to BRAHMS in 2023. This fascinating project is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant species. Each enclosure emulates a natural biome. The larger of the two biomes simulates a rainforest environment, the largest indoor rainforest in the world, and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The Eden Project
Chicago Garden (CBG)	Chicago Botanic Garden adopted BRAHMS in 2022. With CBG, we have collaboratively developed new components to manage curator’s requests for plants, be these seasonal or for permanent accessioning. Requests are processed in stages from approval, scheduling and ordering through propagation/production to the delivery of plants to the required garden locations. The new module known as RSO (Request, Schedule, Order) is now fully integrated into the BRAHMS system and has its own RDE component for the Rapid Data Entry of new plant requests. Chicago Botanic Garden.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)	The RHS use BRAHMS to manage their names backbone, herbarium and living collections across their network of botanic gardens (Wisley, Rosemoor, Hyde Hall, Harlow Carr and Bridgewater). The RHS-BRAHMS database is primarily manged from the Hilltop Science Centre at Wisley. Together with the RHS, we have developed and implemented a new system to manage the complexity of cultivated plant names, bringing together elements of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) and The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). This new system for managing cultivated plant species names help guide the horticultural community worldwide to assign the correct names to plants. The RHS-BRAHMS database also provides the data used to supply their online system which is used by the general public to locate plants suitable for home growing. Read about our collaboration with RHS on Oxford teams up with The Royal Horticultural Society to develop innovative plant data management. The University of Oxford is working with The Royal Horticultural Society, the UK’s gardening charity, to make information about plants more readily available to everyone with an interest in gardens and garden plants.
RHS Plant Finder	Using our online tools, plant stock data from over 600 nurseries in the UK and Europe are gathered each year into the RHS central BRAHMS database. These data are then checked and verified against their tightly controlled species names list. The data are then assembled and formatted via BRAHMS reporting tools to publish the RHS Plant Finder. Each year, data for the RHS Plant Finder are assembled from over 600 plant nurseries using BRAHMS and BRAHMS online tools .
UK Tree Seed Database	RBG Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) holds comprehensive collections of the UK’s native trees and shrubs, comprising more than 1,500 population-level collections representing more than 11,000 individual trees across 73 woody species in 24 Native Seed Zones. Multiple collections are held across the native range of each species in the UK, with seed from individual maternal trees collected, processed and banked separately. Each collection is accompanied by data including location, population size and extent, associated species, seed processing data, seed mass, viability and germination test data. RBG Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) holds comprehensive collections of the UK’s native trees which can be queried and mapped online.
SANBI	The South African National Biodiversity Institute manages species, preserved and living collection data from across the country, gathering these into a single BRAHMS database - also published using BRAHMS online to Southern African plant names and floristic details. This is one of the largest BRAHMS projects with data from the main herbaria and botanic gardens of South Africa. Included are specimen data from the Compton, Pretoria and Durban herbaria and living collections data from Free State, Lowveld, Kirstenbosh, Harold Porter, Karoo Desert, Pretoria, Thohoyandou, Walter Sisulu, Kwelera, Hantam and KwaZulu-Natal National Botanic Gardens.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew	Working closely with Kew horticultural and IT staff, functionality in BRAHMS has been extended to manage Kew's extensive living plant collections with many new features and functions added, based on their long-established horticultural practices. These include features that help to prioritise areas for stock inventory, verify and update plant names, plant labelling, stock movements and periodic reporting. Kew's living plant collections are located at Kew Gardens in London and at Wakehurst Place further south in Sussex, the latter also home to the Millennium Seed Bank.
The Morton Arboretum	Managing the Morton Arboretum Garden and Herbarium. The Morton Arboretum, Illinois, USA has been a co-developer of BRAHMS for living and preserved collection management. A sample map search online of their Malus collection in the garden.
Conifers of the World	A database of all conifer taxa with complete nomenclature and geo-referenced specimens published to BRAHMS online. Used as the basis for numerous publications including several revisions and monographs; A World Checklist and Bibliography of Conifers; The Handbook of the World's Conifers; and An Atlas of the World's Conifers - An Analysis of Their Distribution, Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Status. View the natural distribution of the family Araucariaceae (open the map). One of the recently added data analysis features is complete integration with ArcGIS allowing users to interact with maps to interpret and evaluate the distribution of taxa.
The Flora of Namibia	About 4000 seed plants are indigenous to Namibia and almost 15% are considered endemic to the country. There are about 164 families of higher plants and of these, 32 are represented by only one species. In contrast the most diverse families are those known to be among the largest families worldwide including the Poaceae, Asteraceae and Leguminosae. These data are assembled in BRAHMS and published as a comprehensive flora and online resource with maps and images. Zooming in to an image of Cheiridopsis caroli-schmidtii.
The National Museums of Kenya	The East African Herbarium maintains the largest botanical collection in tropical Africa. Presently holding more than 700,000 plant specimens and accompanying field notes it acts as a major regional as well as national reference centre. Currently, NMK are imaging their herbarium specimens and publishing these online. Several digitising stations have been set up in the herbarium, each with a Nikon D750, LED lighting and the appropriate hardware for translating data from the image labels into Rapid Data Entry tables.
Trinidad and Tobago	The National Herbarium of Trinidad and Tobago (TRIN) currently houses more than 50,000 botanical specimens. Their objectives include activities to maintain and expand the flora collection for Trinidad and Tobago; provide an accurate plant identification service; promote interest in the local flora; and disseminate information about the local flora; develop its capabilities as a resource centre for botanical information. A database for the National Herbarium and documenting the flora of Trinidad and Tobago with a national checklist of taxa.
The National Herbarium of the Netherlands (NHN)	The largest BRAHMS database with over 5 million collection entries. NHN originated as a cooperation of the 3 major herbaria of the Netherlands (L, U & WAG), and is now the botanical part of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. In a database of this size, a query on Zingiberaceae specimens collected between 1800 and 1900 still results in over 80,000 records.
The Ancient Oaks of England	England is the hotspot for ancient oak trees in Europe with more ancient oaks than all other European countries combined. This BRAHMS database and website brings together data on the ancient and veteran native oak trees of England, their distribution, history and ecology. The history of oaks in England. The Cathedral Oak in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire.
Red Butte Botanic Garden	Red Butte is the main botanic garden in Utah with an impressive collection that includes many native plants. Check out a video mapping plants at Red Butte.
The genus Leucaena (demo)	The taxonomic revision of the genus Leucaena by Colin Hughes was one of the very first BRAHMS projects and a driving force behind its development for taxonomic work and specimen management. Leucaena (Leguminosae - Mimosoideae) comprises approx. 17 diploid and 5 tetraploid species, six infraspecific taxa, and two named hybrids. They are small to medium-sized trees that grow in seasonally dry tropical forests of Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Species of Leucaena have been the focus of both early indigenous domestication, as a native food plant in Mexico, and modern crop breeding as a fodder tree throughout the tropics. A taxonomic revision of the small genus Leucaena, one of first BRAHMS projects, was a driving force behind BRAHMS development.
An e-monograph of the Caricaceae	This website is a taxonomic resource for the papaya family. It will help experts and enthusiasts identify a species, find its relatives and improve their understanding of this interesting family of flowering plants.
Trower Botanical Illustrations	A project providing access to the general botanical watercolours, the bramble illustrations and Druce Illustrations by Charlotte Georgina Trower.
Oxford Plants 400	A fascinating set of species pages developed at Oxford Plant Sciences and Botanic Garden. Check out Coffee, Rice and Cinnamon.
L'Erbario di Ulisse Aldrovandi	The collection by Ulisse Aldrovandi is one of the oldest survived to this day and, no doubt, one of the widest of the XVI Century. Aldrovandi probably begun his herbarium in 1551 and kept on working on it lifelong, gathering more than 5,000 specimens bound in 15 volumes. In 2004 the entire collection has been digitized and published on-line with free access giving the opportunity to researchers from all over the world to study this precious and unique collection.
RBG Kew UKOT Online Herbarium	The RBG Kew UK Overseas Territories (UKOT) Online Herbarium provides access to virtual herbaria for sixteen UKOT projects. In the first instance, these comprises digitized geo-referenced herbarium specimens from Kew's collection together with associated data, field images and key botanical literature.