What Research Tools and Plant Resources Does NTBG Offer?

Updated

The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) provides four main research entry points through its website: the Tropical Plant Database, Herbarium Search, Library, and Living Collections. These tools are aimed at people who need tropical plant information for study, research, or educational purposes. You can reach all of them from the "Research Tools" section of ntbg.org, and none of the pages listed in the site evidence indicate a login requirement or fee to access them.

The four research tools at a glance

Tool What it is for Best suited to
Tropical Plant Database Looking up information on tropical plants Students, educators, general researchers
Herbarium Search Searching preserved plant specimen records Botanists, taxonomists, provenance research
Library Accessing NTBG's library resource entry point Literature and reference research
Living Collections Exploring NTBG's cultivated plant collections Users interested in what NTBG grows across its gardens

Each tool serves a different stage of research. The Tropical Plant Database and Library are starting points for background information, while Herbarium Search and Living Collections connect you to specimens and physical plants.

Tropical Plant Database

This is the most direct resource for anyone who needs descriptive information about tropical plants. Use it when you want to identify a species, check common or scientific names, or gather general plant background before deeper work. It is a reference tool rather than a searchable specimen archive, so treat it as an encyclopedia-style entry point.

How to use it: Open the Tropical Plant Database from the Research Tools menu, then search or browse by plant name. The expected result is an informational entry on the plant you looked up.

Herbarium Search

The Herbarium Search is for specimen-level records rather than general descriptions. Reach for it when you need to know whether a particular plant has been collected, documented, or preserved, or when you are tracing where a specimen originated.

How to use it: Go to Herbarium Search, enter the plant or collection details you have, and review the returned specimen records. This differs from the Tropical Plant Database in that it points to preserved physical evidence, not summary plant profiles.

Library

The Library is NTBG's entry point for reference and literature resources. Use it when your question is about published material, background reading, or supporting documents rather than a single plant fact. It complements the other tools: the database gives you plant facts, the herbarium gives you specimens, and the library gives you written sources.

Living Collections

Living Collections covers the plants NTBG actually grows and maintains across its gardens. This is useful if you want to know what is cultivated rather than only what is documented in records. It pairs naturally with a garden visit, since the collections reflect what is on the ground at NTBG's sites.

How to choose the right tool

  • Need a quick plant fact or overview? Start with the Tropical Plant Database.
  • Need to confirm a specimen or collection record? Use Herbarium Search.
  • Need published or reference material? Go to the Library.
  • Need to know what NTBG grows? Check Living Collections.

If your question spans several of these, a practical order is: database first for orientation, herbarium for verification, library for depth, and living collections for the physical counterpart.

Related resources worth knowing

Beyond the four core tools, NTBG also maintains a Breadfruit Institute focused on the conservation, study, and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation. If your research touches breadfruit specifically, that institute is a more targeted entry point than the general tools above. NTBG also publishes materials such as Common Mosses of the Hawaiian Islands, a 100-page pocket guide, which shows the kind of reference output the organization produces alongside its digital tools.

Practical notes

  • All four tools are listed together under Research Tools on ntbg.org, so you can move between them from one place.
  • The site evidence does not state any cost or account requirement for these research pages; if access terms matter to you, confirm them on the specific tool page before relying on it.
  • For direct questions, NTBG lists a contact line at (808) 332-7324 and an administrative email at [email protected].