The scientific value of herbaria as a botanical repository of Earth's current and past diversity is globally acknowledged. The Wildlife Institute of India Herbarium, recognized by the "Index Herbariorum," is listed among the 3567 network of herbaria worldwide cited using the acronym "WII" in the scientific and botanical publications.
WII Herbarium was established in 1986 with a twofold purpose: (i) to create a repository of plant collections representing flora of different Protected Areas (PAs) of India and (ii) to develop a basic facility for aiding plant identification, floral inventory and access to plant databases for officer trainees, researchers, and students of WII.
One of unique features of WII herbarium is that it represents flora of a number of protected areas of India. Based on the floristic surveys and inventory of species, the database on the flora of protected areas namely Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandhavgarh National Park, Grasslands in and around Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary, Bodhghat submergence area, Madhya Pradesh, Great Himalayan National Park, Pin Valley National Park, Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Valley of Flowers National Park, Coldarid region of Nanda Devi BR, Rajaji National Park, Eravikulam National Park, Protected areas of Andhra Pradesh, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, Gorumara National Park, Hemis National Park, Dachigam National Park, Rann of Kutch, Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh etc. has been prepared.
A National Repository - represents flora of a number of Protected Areas of India