National Herbarium of Cultivated Plants: A Resource for Study of Crop Genepools

Abstract

National Herbarium of Cultivated Plants (code ‘NHCP’) at ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi, India occupies an important place among 25 major Indian herbaria. NHCP presently holds collection of 22,778 herbarium specimens representing 265 families, 1500 genera and 4,156 species (besides ~6,000 images maintained as virtual herbarium). Besides, seed and carpological samples/economic products are represented as complementary collection. Variability is depicted in crop plants as cultivars, primitive types/ landraces, crop wild relatives (CWR)/weedy types, wild/semi-domesticated forms and taxa introduced for breeding purpose, and potential species. These features make the NHCP unique among other herbaria in India. The NHCP with signifi cant holdings representing over 500 crop taxa under genera: Oryza, Sorghum, Vigna, Cajanus/Atylosia, Allium, Abelmoschus, Solanum, Cucumis, Trichosanthes, Piper, Curcuma, Rosa, Prunus, etc. and over 550 crop wild relatives serves as a resource for study of crop genepools