Seoul Botanic Park in the western side of the capital is building a living archive of the city’s plant diversity, aiming to expand its collection to 8,000 species by 2027. The park said Wednesday it now holds 6,558 plant species and 2.19 million individual plants, more than twice the number of species it had when it opened in 2019. The collection includes 2,133 woody plants and 4,425 ground-cover and flowering plants, with more than 2,000 species managed in themed gardens and about 3,400 in exhibition greenhouses. The park has added 3,542 species over seven years through field collection, purchases, exchanges with domestic institutions and international seed exchanges. It has secured 508 species through joint surveys and collection efforts with organizations including the National Institute of Ecology, while its Index Seminum seed exchange program has brought in 1,442 species from 22 countries since 2020. The park said it is shifting particular attention toward plants with high conservation value, including endangered wildlife, rare and endemic species and plants designated for protecti