1. Acclimatisation studies of warm-climate species

This involves the germination and adaptation of plants acquired from all over the world through the Index Seminum (seed catalogues from other scientific institutions) which we feel will improve the botanical heritage of both La Concepcion itself and the city of Malaga. This in turn will increase plant diversity and improve the quality of life of the local population.

Our aims are as follows:

1.1- To create new plant collections and raise the overall number of species.

1.2- To increase plant diversity in the city.

1.3- To embellish existing landscaped public spaces.

1.4- To highlight the city's remarkable flora, the only one of its kind in Europe, and devise a  plan to raise its profile.

2. Research into 19^th-century flora and gardens

19^th-century Malaga has already been the subject of numerous studies and research projects due to the fact that communications, infrastructure and services all flourished in the city during the period in question, increasing its economic, political and social importance in the process. As a result, numerous parks, gardens, squares, avenues and landscaped streets, both private and public, began to appear, significantly improving both the appearance of the city itself and the quality of life of those who lived in it. This key period marked the birth of the unique flora and magnificent gardens that are the object of our studies today.

Our aims are as follows:

2.1- To gain a keener insight into 19^th-century Malaga in terms of its parks, gardens, decorative flora and botanical ambitions, as well as the role played  by society in their development.

2.2- To provide a useful knowledge base that will help us to establish conservation criteria for today's gardens, particularly La Concepcion.

2.3- To raise awareness of La Concepcion's remarkable history and also of the flowers and gardens that adorned the city of Malaga in the 19^th century.

3. Conservation Biology

In the face of growing environmental problems and the loss of biodiversity, governments are developing a series of initiatives on an international scale in order to join forces and find solutions. A notable example is the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which   encourages the ex situ cultivation and conservation in Spain's botanical gardens of those endemic species under greatest threat of extinction, either in their respective seed banks or as living collections.

There are three mains aims:

3.1- To develop germination and cultivation protocols for Spanish flora's most endangered species.

3.2- To ascertain the best stage of the species' development in which to plant it successfully in its natural habitat.

3.3- To exhibit a sample of those species selected in the collections on display at La Concepcion, and to develop a strategy to raise public awareness of threatened plants in order to create a social conscience regarding the growing problem of loss of biodiversity.

4. The herbarium

Any botanical research project that is undertaken must be properly documented, with the plants collected for study being dried and mounted on sheets, enabling scholars to observe them whatever the time of year.

Since 1998, La Concepcion has been a member of the Association of Spanish and Portuguese Herbaria, with which it has collaborated in projects such as Exsiccata, a scientific publication  through which herbarium sheets can be exchanged between different institutions.

5. The seed bank

Seeds, pollen and other propagules can be conserved by keeping them in controlled microclimatic conditions, prolonging their viability by a number of years. Such biological collections are known as seed banks, or alternatively as gene or germplasm banks. The aim of these banks is to protect interesting, rare, threatened or endangered species, as well as supplying researchers and scholars with living material that would otherwise be difficult to obtain and, above all, providing optimal maintenance conditions for seeds which, without such a storage system, would eventually die as a result of progressive poisoning caused by the products of their own metabolism.

The seed bank at La Concepcion publishes an annual journal or catalogue facilitating the exchange of seeds that is sent to 500 botanical gardens and scientific institutions all over the world.

The aims of the bank are:

5.1- To conserve seeds from tropical and subtropical climates for use in our garden.

5.2- To conserve the seeds of threatened and endangered species for future planting in natural environments.

5.3- To acquire plant materials that are difficult to obtain and can be used to undertake germination and acclimatisation studies of exotic species that are of interest in terms of both  enriching the Historical Garden and populating any future living collections that may be created with a view to ultimately planting these new species in Malaga's public gardens.

Every year, La Concepcion exchanges seeds with other botanical gardens and scientific institutions from around the world. In order to make this possible, we publish an annual catalogue compiled in conjunction with the other centres belonging to the Association of Spanish and Portuguese Botanical Gardens. Please note: this service is not available to private clients, only to botanical gardens or non profit-making research centres.

The details given for each species are the same as those that appear on the labels identifying the plants in the garden itself. Their scientific names are based on the binomial nomenclature system comprising two Latin words, the first denominating the plant's genus and the second its species. This is followed by the name of the author(s) of the first valid description of the plant in accordance with the principles of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.  Also listed are the plant's synonym, if it has one, the family to which its belongs, its most widely-used common name and, finally, its natural habitat.

The list of bird species to be found at La Concepcion was compiled by members of SEO-Malaga. Their study classifies the birds as:

• Habitual:  sedentary or migratory birds.
• Accidental: those which have been sighted or heard from the garden but only sporadically or by chance. These are species that habitually fly over La Concepcion but do not come to rest in the garden or use it in any other way.
• Observed: birds that are known to have been physically present in the garden, either through eyewitness accounts or from sightings reported in periods not covered by this study.