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91-413: (5 AM – 7 AM for Morning Walkers The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden , previously known as Indian Botanic Garden and the Calcutta Botanic Garden , is a botanical garden situated in Shibpur , Howrah near Kolkata . They are commonly known as the Calcutta Botanical Garden and previously as the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta . The gardens exhibit a wide variety of rare plants and

182-491: A botanical garden is defined by its scientific or academic connection, then the first true botanical gardens were established with the revival of learning that occurred in the European Renaissance . These were secular gardens attached to universities and medical schools, used as resources for teaching and research. The superintendents of these gardens were often professors of botany with international reputations,

273-403: A department of an educational institution, it may be related to a teaching program. In any case, it exists for scientific ends and is not to be restricted or diverted by other demands. It is not merely a landscaped or ornamental garden, although it may be artistic, nor is it an experiment station or yet a park with labels on the plants. The essential element is the intention of the enterprise, which

364-528: A factor that probably contributed to the creation of botany as an independent discipline rather than a descriptive adjunct to medicine. The botanical gardens of Southern Europe were associated with university faculties of medicine and were founded in Italy at Orto botanico di Pisa (1544), Orto botanico di Padova (1545), Orto Botanico di Firenze (1545), Orto Botanico dell'Università di Pavia (1558) and Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna (1568). Here

455-484: A farm, and a small Linnaean Garden. The map titled "Plan of the Botanical Gardens December 1845" was developed in 1843 by Griffith and shows key differences compared to the 1816 plan created by Wallich. Major illustrations of natural features such as rivers and trees, which appeared alongside the nurseries, are either not included in the map or depicted using symbols. A large teak plantation replaces

546-538: A period of prosperity when the city was a trading centre for the Dutch East India Company . Other gardens were constructed in Brazil ( Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden , 1808), Sri Lanka ( Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya , 1821 and on a site dating back to 1371), Indonesia ( Bogor Botanical Gardens , 1817 and Kebun Raya Cibodas , 1852), and Singapore ( Singapore Botanical Gardens , 1822). These had

637-608: A profound effect on the economy of the countries, especially in relation to the foods and medicines introduced. The importation of rubber trees to the Singapore Botanic Garden initiated the important rubber industry of the Malay Peninsula . At this time also, teak and tea were introduced to India and breadfruit , pepper and starfruit to the Caribbean. Included in the charter of these gardens

728-613: A secret may be got at or even an improvement for small expense, I shall readily pay for it." The War Department (UK) and the Honourable East India Company sent seeds and plants from tropical India and from British North Borneo , Sabah , and Sarawak in the East Indies. Other species came from French and Caribbean sources, such as cinnamon from Guadeloupe and Grenada . From Kew Gardens came seeds from China . Under George Young (1765–1785), and

819-471: A total collection of over 12,000 specimens spread over 109 hectares . It is under Botanical Survey of India (BSI) of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The gardens were founded in 1787 by Colonel Robert Kyd , an army officer of the East India Company , primarily for the purpose of identifying new plants of commercial value, such as teak, and growing spices for trade. In

910-470: A traditional European garden. These qualities included "uniformity of design, adaptation of particular parts to particular purposes, including those of science and instruction." The ways in which the Garden was restructured from 1816 to 1846 reflected the demands of a rapidly growing scientific field that fueled European colonial influence. Key features of the 1816 map depict four nurseries, housing for laborers,

1001-457: A wide influence on both botany and horticulture, as plants poured into it from around the world. The garden's golden age came in the 18th century, when it became the world's most richly stocked botanical garden. Its seed-exchange programme was established in 1682 and still continues today. With the increase in maritime trade , ever more plants were being brought back to Europe as trophies from distant lands, and these were triumphantly displayed in

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1092-409: A written proposal to Governor-General John Macpherson to establish the garden, Kyd stated it was "not for the purpose of collecting rare plants as things of mere curiosity, but for establishing a stock for disseminating such articles as may prove beneficial to the inhabitants as well to the natives of Great Britain, and which ultimately may tend to the extension of the national commerce and riches." India

1183-470: A year. Historically, botanical gardens exchanged plants through the publication of seed lists (these were called Latin : Indices Seminae in the 18th century). This was a means of transferring both plants and information between botanical gardens. This system continues today, although the possibility of genetic piracy and the transmission of invasive species has received greater attention in recent times. The International Association of Botanic Gardens

1274-401: Is almost entirely the work of the superintendents of the gardens of Calcutta and Seharunpore ( Saharanpur )." A major change in policy, however, was introduced by the botanist William Roxburgh after he became superintendent of the garden in 1793. Roxburgh brought in plants from all over India and developed an extensive herbarium . This collection of dried plant specimens eventually became

1365-488: Is closely linked to the history of botany itself. The botanical gardens of the 16th and 17th centuries were medicinal gardens, but the idea of a botanical garden changed to encompass displays of the beautiful, strange, new and sometimes economically important plant trophies being returned from the European colonies and other distant lands. Later, in the 18th century, they became more educational in function, demonstrating

1456-523: Is inside the Parque La Carolina is a 165.5-acre (670,000 m ) park in the centre of the Quito central business district , bordered by the avenues Río Amazonas, de los Shyris, Naciones Unidas, Eloy Alfaro, and de la República. The botanical garden of Quito is a park, a botanical garden, an arboretum and greenhouses of 18,600 square meters that is planned to increase, maintain the plants of

1547-609: Is no evidence that Melville ever claimed a reward for the Botanic Garden. Unlike other colonial projects, the garden did not attract government funding from Britain. Instead, documents indicate it was privately financed by Melville during his tenure in the Windward Isles , and Anderson's 'Account' shows he directed the commanding officer at the Kingstown Garrison to requisition a plot of barrack land for

1638-593: Is reckoned to be the largest tree in the world, at more than 330 metres in circumference. It partially inspired the novel Hothouse by Brian Aldiss. The gardens are also famous for their enormous collections of orchids , bamboos , palms , and plants of the screw pine genus ( Pandanus ). Animals seen inside the Botanic Garden include the Jackal ( Canis aureus ), Indian mongoose and the Indian Fox ( Vulpes bengalensis ). Many species of snake are also to be found in

1729-669: Is respected worldwide for the published work of its scientists, the education of horticultural students, its public programmes, and the scientific underpinning of its horticulture. In 1728, John Bartram founded Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia , one of the continent's first botanical gardens. The garden is now managed as a historical site that includes a few original and many modern specimens as well as extensive archives and restored historical farm buildings. The large number of plants needing description were often listed in garden catalogues; and at this time Carl Linnaeus established

1820-1101: Is the acquisition and dissemination of botanical knowledge. A contemporary botanic garden is a strictly protected green area, where a managing organization creates landscaped gardens and holds documented collections of living plants and/or preserved plant accessions containing functional units of heredity of actual or potential value for purposes such as scientific research, education, public display, conservation, sustainable use, tourism and recreational activities, production of marketable plant-based products and services for improvement of human well-being. Worldwide, there are now about 1800 botanical gardens and arboreta in about 150 countries (mostly in temperate regions) of which about 550 are in Europe (150 of which are in Russia ), 200 in North America , and an increasing number in East Asia. These gardens attract about 300 million visitors

1911-546: Is to maintain documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display, and education, although this will depend on the resources available and the special interests pursued at each particular garden. The staff will normally include botanists as well as gardeners. Many botanical gardens offer diploma/certificate programs in horticulture, botany and taxonomy. There are many internship opportunities offered to aspiring horticulturists. As well as opportunities for students/researchers to use

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2002-670: The Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna and Hortus Botanicus Leiden . Many plants were being collected from the Near East , especially bulbous plants from Turkey . Clusius laid the foundations of Dutch tulip breeding and the bulb industry, and he helped create one of the earliest formal botanical gardens of Europe at Leyden where his detailed planting lists have made it possible to recreate this garden near its original site. The hortus medicus of Leyden in 1601

2093-613: The East Indies to Kew Gardens in England to be sent later to the American tropics. The Royal Society fostered the introduction, establishment, and dissemination of highly prized species. Melville, anticipating modern ethnobotany , urged that "physical practitioners of the country, natives of experience, and even old Caribs and slaves who have dealt in cures might be worth taking notice of, and if at any time you should think that

2184-885: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation by producing a range resources and publications, and by organizing international conferences and conservation programs. Communication also happens regionally. In the United States, there is the American Public Gardens Association (formerly the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta), and in Australasia there is the Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ). The history of botanical gardens

2275-842: The Government Hill in Victoria City , Hong Kong Island . The Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Tokyo, with its origin going back to the Tokugawa shogunate 's ownership, became in 1877 part of the Tokyo Imperial University . In Sri Lanka major botanical gardens include the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya (formally established in 1843), Hakgala Botanical Gardens (1861) and Henarathgoda Botanical Garden (1876). Jardín Botánico de Quito

2366-637: The Nawabs of Bengal . As the Company gained more control over farming in South Asia, it did a lot of scientific research, including plant surveys. These surveys had two main goals: Although it was a trading company, the East India Company had powers like a government, including collecting taxes. Its system kept officials separate from farmers. Both Indian and British officials were involved, and

2457-535: The Peace of Paris in (1763) the newly appointed governor of the southern British Caribbean islands, Robert Melville , and the military surgeon in Saint Vincent, George Young , decided to create a botanic garden, primarily to provide medicinal plants for the military and improve the life and economy of the colony. Eighteenth-century botanists placed great emphasis on introducing valuable and commercial plants from

2548-1001: The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens , 1818; the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne , 1845; Adelaide Botanic Gardens , 1854; and Brisbane Botanic Gardens , 1855. These were established essentially as colonial gardens of economic botany and acclimatisation. The Auburn Botanical Gardens , 1977, located in Sydney's western suburbs , are one of the popular and diverse botanical gardens in the Greater Western Sydney area. Major botanical gardens in New Zealand include Dunedin Botanic Gardens , 1863; Christchurch Botanic Gardens , 1863; Ōtari-Wilton's Bush , 1926; and Wellington Botanic Gardens , 1868. Hong Kong Botanic Gardens , 1871 (renamed Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 1975), up from

2639-578: The floristic kingdoms from which they originated, the garden's botanists acquired plants from three of the world's six photochoria; approximately twelve per cent from Holocratic North America and Europe; forty-one per cent from Neotropical Central and South America, and forty-seven per cent from the Palaeotropical regions of South-East Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Africa. Given the paucity of government funding and logistical support provided for

2730-506: The "Father of Botany". There is some debate among science historians whether this garden was ordered and scientific enough to be considered "botanical", and suggest it more appropriate to attribute the earliest known botanical garden in Europe to the botanist and pharmacologist Antonius Castor , mentioned by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century. Though these ancient gardens shared some of

2821-408: The 16th and 17th centuries, the first plants were being imported to these major Western European gardens from Eastern Europe and nearby Asia (which provided many bulbs ), and these found a place in the new gardens, where they could be conveniently studied by the plant experts of the day. For example, Asian introductions were described by Carolus Clusius (1526–1609), who was director, in turn, of

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2912-496: The Botanic Gardens under the direction of Dr. Nathaniel Wallich , and distributed in 1829 to the principal museums of Europe. The Calcutta Botanic Garden played a significant role in the intersection of botanical science and colonial power in British India. As a center for plant research and cultivation, it became an important tool for scientific advancement and economic development. However, its functions were closely tied to

3003-685: The British and Dutch, in India , South-east Asia and the Caribbean . This was also the time of Sir Joseph Banks 's botanical collections during Captain James Cook 's circumnavigations of the planet and his explorations of Oceania , which formed the last phase of plant introduction on a grand scale. There are currently about 230 tropical botanical gardens with a concentration in southern and south-eastern Asia. The first botanical garden founded in

3094-550: The Central National Herbarium of the Botanical Survey of India , which comprises 2,500,000 items. During the early years of the garden Joseph Dalton Hooker writes: ... contributed more useful and ornamental tropical plants to the public and private gardens of the world than any other establishment before or since. ... I here allude to the great Indian herbarium, chiefly formed by the staff of

3185-618: The Chelsea Physic Garden to the Province of Georgia in 1732 and tea into India by Calcutta Botanic Garden. The transfer of germplasm between the temperate and tropical botanical gardens was undoubtedly responsible for the range of agricultural crops currently used in several regions of the tropics. The first botanical gardens in Australia were founded early in the 19th century. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney , 1816;

3276-521: The Christian conquest in 1085 CE. Ibn Bassal then founded a garden in Seville, most of its plants being collected on a botanical expedition that included Morocco, Persia, Sicily, and Egypt. The medical school of Montpelier was also founded by Spanish Arab physicians, and by 1250 CE, it included a physic garden, but the site was not given botanic garden status until 1593. Botanical gardens, in

3367-654: The Court of Directors watched over this to try to keep it fair. More and more plant scientists were able to study new areas in India, collecting lots of information. Important people who worked at the Calcutta Garden were: The Calcutta Botanic Garden changed a lot since it was first set up. It made beautiful gardens for people to visit while still studying plants. In the 1970s, the Garden started growing better food plants and other useful plants for India. This shows how

3458-486: The French Island of Guadeloupe , and by 1773 the garden contained 52 plant species. Surviving plant catalogues – of which there are five – provide a quantitative account of the garden's expansion from 1765. These documents show a twenty-fivefold increase in the number of plants when classified by genus until the early nineteenth century; 52 in 1773, 769 in 1792, 796 in 1793, and 1,311 by 1806. Classed according to

3549-475: The Garden due to its economic benefits. Tea, for example, was a highly commodified plant that was indispensable to the European economy. The indigenous tea plants of India were not able to be produced in mass quantities, leading to the kidnapping of Chinese gardeners and their tea plants. Chinese tea was first transplanted to the Calcutta Garden and larger tea plantations in Ooty and Nilgiris were established by forcing

3640-406: The Garden started to focus more on helping the country and its people. Griffith was instrumental in rearranging the Calcutta Garden in a way that reflected scientific practice at the time, emphasizing the importance of scientific classification in the Garden's appearance. Griffith often criticized the layout of the Botanic Garden under Wallich's control as he believed it did not have the qualities of

3731-571: The Grenadines Botanic Gardens . This network moved plants between gardens and classified them using the Linnaean system . It supported scientific research and was also used in colonial expansion. The East India Company went through major political changes while developing its botanical work. The Pitt's India Act of 1784 put the Company under British rule, but it still had governing power. From 1786-1787, it ruled together with

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3822-1023: The Netherlands ( Hortus Botanicus Leiden , 1590; Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam) , 1638), Germany ( Alter Botanischer Garten Tübingen , 1535; Leipzig Botanical Garden , 1580; Botanischer Garten Jena , 1586; Botanischer Garten Heidelberg , 1593; Herrenhäuser Gärten, Hanover , 1666; Botanischer Garten der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel , 1669; Botanical Garden in Berlin , 1672), Switzerland ( Old Botanical Garden, Zürich , 1560; Basel , 1589); England ( University of Oxford Botanic Garden , 1621; Chelsea Physic Garden , 1673); Scotland ( Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh , 1670); and in France ( Jardin des plantes de Montpellier , 1593; Faculty of Medicine Garden, Paris, 1597; Jardin des Plantes , Paris, 1635), Denmark ( University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden , 1600); Sweden ( Uppsala University , 1655). During

3913-743: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1759) and Orotava Acclimatization Garden (in Spanish) , Tenerife (1788) and the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (1755) were set up to cultivate new species returned from expeditions to the tropics; they also helped found new tropical botanical gardens. From the 1770s, following the example of the French and Spanish , amateur collectors were supplemented by official horticultural and botanical plant hunters. These botanical gardens were boosted by

4004-534: The Royal Garden set aside as a physic garden. William Aiton (1741–1793), the first curator, was taught by garden chronicler Philip Miller of the Chelsea Physic Garden whose son Charles became first curator of the original Cambridge Botanic Garden (1762). In 1759, the "Physick Garden" was planted, and by 1767, it was claimed that "the Exotick Garden is by far the richest in Europe". Gardens such as

4095-626: The South Seas. The Botanic Garden's curator Alexander Anderson took great care of these plants, and the success of all those efforts is evident from the widespread distribution of breadfruit, the most useful food plant throughout the West Indies. The first half of the nineteenth century was a lean time for colonial botanic gardens. By 1850, due to a lack of interest and maintenance, the Saint Vincent gardens had fallen into disrepair. Local efforts in Saint Vincent initiated in 1884 began to revive

4186-630: The Spanish invaders, not only with their appearance, but also because the indigenous Aztecs employed many more medicinal plants than did the classical world of Europe. Early medieval gardens in Islamic Spain resembled botanic gardens of the future, an example being the 11th-century Huerta del Rey garden of physician and author Ibn Wafid (999–1075 CE) in Toledo . This was later taken over by garden chronicler Ibn Bassal (fl. 1085 CE) until

4277-486: The Vatican grounds in 1447, for a garden of medicinal plants that were used to promote the teaching of botany, and this was a forerunner to the University gardens at Padua and Pisa established in the 1540s. Certainly the founding of many early botanic gardens was instigated by members of the medical profession. In the 17th century, botanical gardens began their contribution to a deeper scientific curiosity about plants. If

4368-504: The capable and enthusiastic guidance of the second superintendent curator, Alexander Anderson , who served from 1785 to 1811, the Botanical Gardens quickly attained an enviable reputation and received wide acclaim. The garden attracted talented successor curators, including William Lochead , George Caley, Henry Powell, and William Sands. A third-generation clone of a breadfruit tree in the twenty-first century collection of

4459-481: The characteristics of present-day botanical gardens, the forerunners of modern botanical gardens are generally regarded as being the medieval monastic physic gardens that originated after the decline of the Roman Empire at the time of Emperor Charlemagne (742–789 CE). These contained a hortus , a garden used mostly for vegetables, and another section set aside for specially labelled medicinal plants and this

4550-442: The classification systems being developed by botanists in the gardens' museums and herbaria. Botanical gardens had now become scientific collections, as botanists published their descriptions of the new exotic plants, and these were also recorded for posterity in detail by superb botanical illustrations. In this century, botanical gardens effectively dropped their medicinal function in favour of scientific and aesthetic priorities, and

4641-405: The collection for their studies. The origin of modern botanical gardens is generally traced to the appointment of botany professors to the medical faculties of universities in 16th-century Renaissance Italy, which also entailed curating a medicinal garden . However, the objectives, content, and audience of today's botanic gardens more closely resembles that of the grandiose gardens of antiquity and

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4732-496: The country (Ecuador is among the 17 richest countries in the world in the native species, a study on this matter). The Ecuadorian flora classified, determines the existence of 17,000 species) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens If it ever existed, the garden's royal charter has neither survived nor yet been rediscovered. However, letters exchanged between General Robert Melville and

4823-481: The educational garden of Theophrastus in the Lyceum of ancient Athens. The early concern with medicinal plants changed in the 17th century to an interest in the new plant imports from explorations outside Europe as botany gradually established its independence from medicine. In the 18th century, systems of nomenclature and classification were devised by botanists working in the herbaria and universities associated with

4914-544: The end of the 18th century, Kew, under the directorship of Sir Joseph Banks , enjoyed a golden age of plant hunting, sending out collectors to the South African Cape , Australia , Chile , China , Ceylon , Brazil , and elsewhere, and acting as "the great botanical exchange house of the British Empire ". From its earliest days to the present, Kew has in many ways exemplified botanic garden ideals, and

5005-519: The flora being sent back to Europe from various European colonies around the globe . At this time, British horticulturalists were importing many woody plants from Britain's colonies in North America , and the popularity of horticulture had increased enormously, encouraged by the horticultural and botanical collecting expeditions overseas fostered by the directorship of Sir William Jackson Hooker and his keen interest in economic botany . At

5096-747: The garden was created to facilitate the '[introduction of such] plants as might be of advantage' to the British West Indies and the 'nation at large'; namely in the provision of new 'foods, medicines or batches of commerce' that could not be cultivated in Britain's North American colonies. The function of the garden therefore appears to have been congruous with the establishment of other eighteenth-century Caribbean Gardens at Bath and Liguanea in Jamaica, where superintendents were asked to 'explore indigenous plants, ascertain their values and uses', 'do

5187-449: The garden, many of these plant species were sent by French botanists working from Saint Domingue , Martinique , Guadeloupe and Cayenne . Notable participants in this network of plant exchange included the marquis de Bouillé François Claude Amour du Chariol , Governor General of the French Antilles from 1777 to 1783, and Jean-Baptiste Victor Hugues , Governor of Guadeloupe from 1794 to 1795 and French Guiana from 1802 to 1809. Following

5278-456: The garden. Botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden with a documented collection of living plants for the purpose of scientific research, conservation, display, and education. It is their mandate as a botanical garden that plants are labelled with their botanical names . It may contain specialist plant collections such as cacti and other succulent plants , herb gardens , plants from particular parts of

5369-409: The garden. He then established a correspondence with governors on the Spanish Main 'to bring more valuable plants of that country' to Saint Vincent, and left Dr. Young '[with his] library relating to botanical history', 'other handbooks of science', and 'all his mathematical instruments'. According to a letter dated 20 July 1766, Melville also arranged for cinnamon seeds to be sent to Doctor Young from

5460-460: The gardens came from an original plant brought in 1793 by Captain William Bligh (of Bounty fame). In 1787–88 Captain Bligh made his ill-fated voyage on HMS Bounty to Tahiti to collect breadfruit and other useful plants for the West Indies. Undaunted by the notorious mutiny of his first crew, Bligh again set sail for Tahiti aboard HMS  Providence . He completed his mission in Kingstown, Saint Vincent on January 23, 1793, with plants from

5551-434: The gardens, these systems often being displayed in the gardens as educational "order beds ". With the rapid expansion of European colonies around the globe in the late 18th century, botanic gardens were established in the tropics, and economic botany became a focus with the hub at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , near London. Over the years, botanical gardens, as cultural and scientific organisations, have responded to

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5642-402: The gardens; by 1890 the work was reactivated as part of a larger agricultural and botanical scheme. The Botanical Gardens soon regained their former glory and beauty, and the plant collections were recovered. Considerable attention was given to experimental work in the gardens on economic crops until 1944 ( cotton , arrowroot , cacao and sugarcane ). The layout of the re-established gardens

5733-488: The interests of botany and horticulture . Nowadays, most botanical gardens display a mix of the themes mentioned and more; having a strong connection with the general public, there is the opportunity to provide visitors with information relating to the environmental issues being faced at the start of the 21st century, especially those relating to plant conservation and sustainability . The "New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening" (1999) points out that among

5824-426: The island surgeon botanist Dr George Young show that island commissioners were on 15 December 1765 directed to lay aside six acres of land as part of a 'steady plan' to facilitate botanical discoveries and encourage the cultivating of nutritional, medicinal and commercial 'improvements' for Saint Vincent's population. Accounts compiled later by Young's successor Dr Alexander Anderson are more detailed, affirming that

5915-599: The latest plant classification systems devised by botanists working in the associated herbaria as they tried to order these new treasures. Then, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the trend was towards a combination of specialist and eclectic collections demonstrating many aspects of both horticulture and botany. The idea of "scientific" gardens used specifically for the study of plants dates back to antiquity. Near-eastern royal gardens set aside for economic use or display and containing at least some plants gained by special collecting trips or military campaigns abroad, are known from

6006-456: The modern sense, developed from physic gardens , whose main purpose was to cultivate herbs for medical use as well as research and experimentation. Such gardens have a long history. In Europe, for example, Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE) is said to have had a physic garden in the Lyceum at Athens, which was used for educational purposes and for the study of botany, and this was inherited, or possibly set up, by his pupil Theophrastus ,

6097-443: The native housing and the landscape is clearly divided into large divisions, indicating that science was used to categorize the natural landscape. An emphasis was placed on labelling plants and categorizing the different areas of the Garden which, according to Griffith, allowed it to be "gardens of science and instruction." The best-known landmark of the garden is The Great Banyan , an enormous banyan tree ( Ficus benghalensis ) that

6188-415: The people of Assam and Ooty to relocate. Additionally, Cacti such as Nopal were imported from Mexico and established in the Garden to produce textile dyes, an industry which Spain dominated. Joseph Dalton Hooker says of this Botanical Garden that "Amongst its greatest triumphs may be considered the introduction of the tea-plant from China ... the establishment of the tea -trade in the Himalaya and Assam

6279-541: The physicians (referred to in English as apothecaries ) delivered lectures on the Mediterranean "simples" or " officinals " that were being cultivated in the grounds. Student education was no doubt stimulated by the relatively recent advent of printing and the publication of the first herbals. All of these botanical gardens still exist, mostly in their original locations. The tradition of these Italian gardens passed into Spain Botanical Garden of Valencia , 1567) and Northern Europe , where similar gardens were established in

6370-443: The political and economic goals of the British East India Company. This section explores how the garden's scientific pursuits were intertwined with colonial expansion and governance, highlighting the complex relationship between botany and imperial power in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The Calcutta Botanic Garden was part of a large network of scientific institutions, including the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Saint Vincent and

6461-447: The private estates of the wealthy, in commercial nurseries , and in the public botanical gardens. Heated conservatories called " orangeries ", such as the one at Kew, became a feature of many botanical gardens. Industrial expansion in Europe and North America resulted in new building skills, so plants sensitive to cold were kept over winter in progressively elaborate and expensive heated conservatories and glasshouses. The 18th century

6552-557: The public for the purposes of recreation, education and research." The term tends to be used somewhat differently in different parts of the world. For example a large woodland garden with a good collection of rhododendron and other flowering tree and shrub species is very likely to present itself as a "botanical garden" if it is located in the US, but very unlikely to do so if in the UK (unless it also contains other relevant features). Very few of

6643-824: The purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education." The following definition was produced by staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University in 1976. It covers in some detail the many functions and activities generally associated with botanical gardens: A botanical garden is a controlled and staffed institution for the maintenance of a living collection of plants under scientific management for purposes of education and research, together with such libraries, herbaria, laboratories, and museums as are essential to its particular undertakings. Each botanical garden naturally develops its own special fields of interests depending on its personnel, location, extent, available funds, and

6734-544: The rubber plant was introduced to Singapore. Especially in the tropics, the larger gardens were frequently associated with a herbarium and museum of economy. The Botanical Garden of Peradeniya had considerable influence on the development of agriculture in Ceylon where the Para rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ) was introduced from Kew, which had itself imported the plant from South America . Other examples include cotton from

6825-619: The same with exotic plants', and import seeds that would 'prove beneficial to Britain'. In following the broader colonial programme of 'plant interchange', the Saint Vincent Botanic Garden was designed to cultivate new West Indian export markets by way of introducing foreign plant species from the East. Though a 'premium' had been offered by the Royal Society in 1760 for the cultivation of useful plant species, there

6916-743: The second millennium BCE in ancient Egypt , Mesopotamia , Crete , Mexico and China . In about 2800 BCE, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung sent collectors to distant regions searching for plants with economic or medicinal value. It has also been suggested that the Spanish colonization of Mesoamerica influenced the history of the botanical garden as gardens in Tenochtitlan established by king Nezahualcoyotl , also gardens in Chalco (altépetl) and elsewhere, greatly impressed

7007-428: The sites used for the UK's dispersed National Plant Collection , usually holding large collections of a particular taxonomic group, would call themselves "botanic gardens". This has been further reduced by Botanic Gardens Conservation International to the following definition which "encompasses the spirit of a true botanic garden": "A botanic garden is an institution holding documented collections of living plants for

7098-404: The system of binomial nomenclature which greatly facilitated the listing process. Names of plants were authenticated by dried plant specimens mounted on card (a hortus siccus or garden of dried plants) that were stored in buildings called herbaria , these taxonomic research institutions being frequently associated with the botanical gardens, many of which by then had "order beds" to display

7189-417: The term "botanic garden" came to be more closely associated with the herbarium, library (and later laboratories) housed there than with the living collections – on which little research was undertaken. The late 18th and early 19th centuries were marked by the establishment of tropical botanical gardens as a tool of colonial expansion (for trade and commerce and, secondarily, science) mainly by

7280-401: The terms of its charter. It may include greenhouses, test grounds, an herbarium, an arboretum, and other departments. It maintains a scientific as well as a plant-growing staff, and publication is one of its major modes of expression. This broad outline is then expanded: The botanic garden may be an independent institution, a governmental operation, or affiliated to a college or university. If

7371-767: The tropics was the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden in Mauritius , established in 1735 to provide food for ships using the port, but later trialling and distributing many plants of economic importance. This was followed by the West Indies ( Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens , 1764) and in 1786 by the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden in Calcutta , India founded during

7462-519: The various kinds of organizations known as botanical gardens, there are many that are in modern times public gardens with little scientific activity, and it cited a tighter definition published by the World Wildlife Fund and IUCN when launching the "Botanic Gardens Conservation Strategy" in 1989: "A botanic garden is a garden containing scientifically ordered and maintained collections of plants, usually documented and labelled, and open to

7553-696: The world, and so on; there may be glasshouses or shadehouses , again with special collections such as tropical plants , alpine plants , or other exotic plants that are not native to that region. Most are at least partly open to the public, and may offer guided tours, public programming such as workshops, courses, educational displays, art exhibitions , book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, and other entertainment. Botanical gardens are often run by universities or other scientific research organizations, and often have associated herbaria and research programmes in plant taxonomy or some other aspect of botanical science. In principle, their role

7644-439: Was a perfect square divided into quarters for the four continents, but by 1720, though, it was a rambling system of beds, struggling to contain the novelties rushing in, and it became better known as the hortus academicus . His Exoticorum libri decem (1605) is an important survey of exotic plants and animals that is still consulted today. The inclusion of new plant introductions in botanic gardens meant their scientific role

7735-558: Was called the herbularis or hortus medicus —more generally known as a physic garden, and a viridarium or orchard. These gardens were probably given impetus when Charlemagne issued a capitulary , the Capitulary de Villis, which listed 73 herbs to be used in the physic gardens of his dominions. Many of these were found in British gardens even though they only occurred naturally in continental Europe, demonstrating earlier plant introduction. Pope Nicholas V set aside part of

7826-556: Was formed in 1954 as a worldwide organisation affiliated to the International Union of Biological Sciences . More recently, coordination has also been provided by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which has the mission "To mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the well-being of people and the planet". BGCI has over 700 members – mostly botanic gardens – in 118 countries, and strongly supports

7917-509: Was improved by the construction of a small Doric Temple, by road building and by the continuous introduction of plants to maintain and add to the collection. Several members of the British royal family have planted a tree in the garden, where pink poui ( Tabebuia rosea ) was planted by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, on 27 February 2012, and a baobab ( Adansonia digitata ) tree was planted by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, on 28 November 2016. The Nicholas Wildlife Aviary Complex, located within

8008-643: Was marked by introductions from the Cape of South Africa – including ericas , geraniums , pelargoniums , succulents, and proteaceous plants – while the Dutch trade with the Dutch East Indies resulted in a golden era for the Leiden and Amsterdam botanical gardens and a boom in the construction of conservatories. The Royal Gardens at Kew were founded in 1759, initially as part of

8099-658: Was now widening, as botany gradually asserted its independence from medicine. In the mid to late 17th century, the Paris Jardin des Plantes was a centre of interest with the greatest number of new introductions to attract the public. In England , the Chelsea Physic Garden was founded in 1673 as the "Garden of the Society of Apothecaries". The Chelsea garden had heated greenhouses , and in 1723 appointed Philip Miller (1691–1771) as head gardener . He had

8190-442: Was the investigation of the local flora for its economic potential to both the colonists and the local people. Many crop plants were introduced by or through these gardens – often in association with European botanical gardens such as Kew or Amsterdam – and included cloves , tea , coffee , breadfruit, cinchona , sugar , cotton , palm oil and Theobroma cacao (for chocolate). During these times,

8281-565: Was undergoing mass famine in the 18th century as a result of political turmoil, in addition to severe socio-economic crises. Robert Kyd's Garden proposal was motivated by the desire to increase agricultural revenue in an effort to end food scarcity and promote economic growth. Furthermore, Robert Kyd was accustomed to growing various plants (spices) from the East Indies, which were obtained from East India Company's voyages. The East India Company's Court of Directors supported Kyd's ambitions to establish cinnamon, tobacco, dates, Chinese tea, and coffee in

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