Yuh Siang Garden · Bukit Timah · Est. 1972
One hundred and fifty-two quarters of unbroken curatorial publication — 4,217 catalogued Asian species, continuously indexed and open to the researchers, landscape architects, and partner herbaria who plan their seasons against it.
Section I · Scope & Method
The Living Index is the trust's working reference. Each quarterly issue re-confirms accession, taxonomy, valley placement, and conservation status against the on-site herbarium lab — the only Kew-accredited botanical laboratory in Singapore outside the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
i.
Every entry carries a stable accession number (issued at planting), the currently accepted binomial and authority, common names in English and Mandarin where attested, and the parent herbarium voucher. Family placement follows the most recent APG revision, with Angiosperm Phylogeny Group updates retroactively applied since Issue 92 (2009).
ii.
The index resolves along six axes: genus, valley, IUCN Red List status, bloom season, accession number, and active conservation programme. Researchers may cross-reference any two axes in a single query — for example, Vanda × Miss Joaquim heritage cultivars by valley, or Dipterocarpaceae under active recovery.
iii.
Issues publish on the fifteenth of March, June, September, and December. The cut-off for the upcoming issue is forty-five days prior; field notes from the curatorial team and seed-exchange submissions are folded into the next quarter. Back-issues 1–151 remain permanently citable and resolvable via DOI.
iv.
Each accession is verified against the on-site Kew-accredited herbarium laboratory, and against voucher specimens lodged at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. New native-collected material is held in quarantine for a minimum of two growing seasons before public indexing.
Section II · Navigating the Index
A working excerpt from the current issue. Each card is reproduced as it appears in the bound PDF — accession number upper-right, binomial authority in italics, valley and IUCN status in the footer rule.
ORCHIDACEAE
Heritage bed, Valley III. The only continuously bloomed heritage stand outside the National Orchid Garden.
Valley III · Critically managed cultivar · Blooms year-round
DIPTEROCARPACEAE
Peninsular endemic, recovered from a single 1974 collection. Mother tree Valley VI.
Valley VI · Critically Endangered · Blooms Mar–May
PENTAPHYLACACEAE
Sister accession to a 1941 Corner collection held at the Singapore Botanic Gardens herbarium.
Valley IV · Vulnerable · Blooms Jul–Sep
PINACEAE
Sumatran mother stock, raised from the 2002 ICBG-approved seed lot held by the trust.
Valley I · Lower risk / conservation dependent · Blooms Feb
CALCEOLARIACEAE
Newly described species included under a 2018 CITES Appendix II listing review.
Valley II · Endangered · Blooms Apr–Jun
PODOCARPACEAE
Long-term phenology plot, continuous weekly measurement since planting.
Valley V · Least Concern · Pollinates Oct–Nov
Curatorial Note — Issue 152
“The Living Index exists so that a recovery partner in Java, a landscape architect in Kyoto, and a postgraduate in Helsinki can plan their seasons against the same verifiable catalogue of what is alive, where, and under what stewardship — not because the plants need to be known, but because seventeen species on our benches will not survive the decade without that knowledge being shared.”
— Dr. Lim Wei Han, third-generation Custodian & Head Curator
Section III · Institutional Reach
152
Quarterly issues published, continuously, since 1986 — the longest unbroken curatorial index of any heritage Asian garden.
6,800+
Registered institutional seed-exchange members, across 41 countries, receiving verified accessions on application.
17
Active IUCN Red List species-recovery partnerships underwritten by indexed material from the trust since 2008.
4
Kew-accredited herbarium laboratories in Southeast Asia — the trust operates one, distinct from the UNESCO site.
Issue 152 · Q4 2024 · 384 pages
The current quarterly issue is published as a 17 MB PDF, paginated to herbarium convention and citable by DOI. Back-issues 1–151 are available on request.
