Adhering to the tenet of trace the origins of mountains and rivers, exhaustively name all of the plants and trees, KIB dedicates to exploring, conserving and utilizing plants so as to benefit human. Based in Yunnan and Southwest China as well as Southeast Asia and the Himalayas, KIB dedicates its research efforts to plant diversity and plant resources so as to facilitate the development of plant science, biodiversity conservation, sustainable utilization of biological resources and bio-economy in China. Adhering to the national strategy of building an innovation country and the West China Development Program, KIB aims to become a national institute with immense power in creativity and sustainable development and a higher talents base in biology science and an important incubator of natural medicine industry in Southwest China.

　　KIB is a wholly-government-sponsored institution with a total of 306 staff members, 282 doctoral and master students, 255 retired employees, including three CAS academicians, seven winners of National Fund for Outstanding Young Scientists and 15 young scientists under the Hundreds of Talents Program of CAS. KIB started to recruit master candidates and doctoral students in 1979 and 1986, respectively. Currently, there are two Ph.D programs, Botany and Medicinal Chemistry and five graduate programs, i.e., Botany, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Medicinal Chemistry at KIB. The Botanical Society of Yunnan is affiliated to KIB and jointly publishes the academic journal of Acta Botanica Yunnanica.

　　To date, KIB has already completed the construction of scientific supporting systems including center for advanced scientific and technological information, center of apparatus analysis and tests, the herbarium, the germplasm bank and the botanic gardens, etc. Now KIB has two research departments, one garden and one germplasm bank, namely, Department of Biogeography and Ecology, Department of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources, Kunming Botanic Garden and the Germplasam Bank of Wild Species. In addition, the Department of Phytochemstry is also the State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China. The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species is a national large-scale scientific facility project. The Department of Biogeography and Ecology is also the CAS Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Moreover, many joint-established laboratories have been founded at KIB such as the Center for Mountain Ecosystem Studies, jointly founded between KIB and World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), the Union Laboratory of Conservation Biology with Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the KIB-Mary Kay joint Laboratory of Personal Care Products, etc. The Germplasm Bank has gathered over 32000 accessions of more than 4000 species of wild plants. The herbarium houses more than 1.2 million specimens of plants and fungi.

　　 Presently, KIB mainly concentrates on four research fields, namely, plant evolutionary biology, phytochemistry and chemical biology, plant genomics and conservation biology, carrying original scientific studies so as to become an internationally influential research institute with regard to plant diversity, plant resource study and biotechnological industry. With new research system and achievements, KIB would offer significant and original scientific achievements for biotechnology industry, environmental protection and sustainable development of economy and society in China. In terms of R&D of new drugs, KIB mainly focuses on studies of natural drugs and ethnopharmacology against tumor, cardio-vascular diseases, nerve system diseases and HIV/AIDS, etc.

　　To date, more than 50 applied researching achievements have been actualized industrial production including some new drugs such as Gastrodin, Gong-xue-ning Capsule, Bulleyaconitine, Helicid, Qing-yang-shen tablets, Qiao-rui-wu oral solution. These new drugs have been put into large-sized production in over 20 medicine plants in Yunnan, Sichuan, Henan and Guizhou with annual value amounting to a billion RMB Yuan. The new anti-HIV/AIDS drug, SH Capsule has been transferred, and clinical trials (phase III) of the new drug against cardio-cerebral vascular diseases, Deng-zhan-xi-xin injection and clinical trials (phase I) of the new drug against presenile dementia, phenchlobenpyrrone have been completed, respectively. Pre-clinical trials for Type A herbal medicine and Type B new drug, CHY capsule have been completed also. As regard to studies on new flower varieties, main efforts were concentrated on genetics, propagation mechanism and molecular mechanism of ecological physiology and growth, providing technological supports to developing new flower varieties with independent intellectual property rights and development of flower industry. In recent years, KIB has breed 42 new and local flower varieties with independent intellectual property rights and the registration of new varieties have been completed. In addition, the breeding technology for six new varieties including Incarvillea delavayi, Musella lasiocarpa, Luculia pinciana, were completed and eight new plant varieties have obtained formal approvals and registrations. Yunnan Green-land Biotechnological Co., Ltd., a KIB shareholding enterprise, was successfully listed in the stock market in 2007, setting an excellent paradigm for transfer and industrialization of scientific research achievements at KIB. It also provides valuable experience and reference for KIB in facilitating industrialization. The nation and Party top leaders Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian, and Hu Jintao, Zhu Rongji, Xi Jinping inspected KIB, giving suggestions and advice for its development. On May 14th 2006, General Secretary of CPC Central Committee and President Hu Jintao once inspected KIB and highly appraised the historical contributions made by the older-generation scientists and encouraged KIB to maintain the leading position in life science, biological industry and biodiversity conservation.