Historical transitions in plant collecting reshape herbarium records in China

Herbarium records are fundamental resources for biodiversity research, but they are shaped by collector identity and historical conditions. China has experienced a major transition from foreign-dominated to domestically led plant collecting, yet how this transition influenced the formation, spatial coverage, and species composition of herbarium records remains unclear.

Using GBIF herbarium records of vascular plants collected in China from 1740 to 2024, we classified records into three collector-origin categories: domestic, foreign, and collaborative. We compared their temporal trajectories, spatial distributions, first species records, conservation-value composition, and species and spatial coverage.

Plant collecting in China was dominated by foreign collectors during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Domestic collecting increased rapidly after the 1920s and became the principal source after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Foreign collectors contributed substantially to early first species records but showed strong spatial concentration. Domestic collecting became the main driver of later species additions and spatial expansion, and covered more threatened species and country endemics. Collaborative collecting was smaller in scale but contributed disproportionately to useful plants.

The transition in collector origin reshaped the source structure, spatial coverage, and species composition of Chinese herbarium records. Domestic taxonomy, herbarium infrastructure, and data curation capacity are therefore essential for improving the representativeness and long-term use of national biodiversity data.