need use and feature of Botanical garden

1. Botanical Gardens:
Definition, Functions, Importance
of Botanical Gardens and History
Dr Manoj Joshi
Department of Botany
Khandelwal College of Management Science and
Technology Bareilly
Manoj.joshi26@gmail.com

2. In this article
we will discuss
about:-
• Definition of Botanical Garden
• Functions of Botanical Gardens
• History.

3. DefinitionofBotanical
Garden:
• The garden is generally defined as a place for growing flowers, fruits or
vegetables. But botanic or botanical garden is an educational institution
for scientific workers and general public or layman to awake and
enlightened interest in plant life.
• The botanical gardens are of immense value not only to botanists, home
gardeners, nurserymen, horticulturists, landscape gardeners and foresters
but also to millions of national and international tourists.
• The botanical gardens should have morphological gardens to display seed
dispersal in plants; genetics or breeding garden to display the laws of
heredity and a taxonomic garden to display plant families. There should
be a fruticetum, arboteum, a section of economic plants; green houses
and nurseries for propagating and cultivating exotic, end genetic and
delicate plants.
• A botanical garden is an institution for botanical research, especially on
the native flora of the region. There should be a herbarium, library,
photographic studies, lecture pavilon and recreational facilities. In fact all
the fundamental and applied aspects of botany come within the purview
of botanical garden and it becomes the centre of cultural activities of the
region in which it is situated.

4. Functions of
Botanical
Gardens:
• The botanical gardens are the natural source of
science and culture.
The functions of gardens are following:
1. Botanical gardens act as out-door laboratories.
2. Initiate studies on the tropical and temperate ecosystems and their
biota, before they are lost to science and preserve such systems.
3. Serve as centres of gene pools or germ plasm bank of wild relatives of
economically important plants.
4. Establish Nature centres and youth Museums to focus attention on
destruction of tropical and temperate ecosystem, environmental
degradation.
5. Maintain less attractive and abandoned ornamental plants.
6. Train city arborists in the plantation of trees in urban areas.
7. Collaborate university and others to conduct research in environmental
biology etc.
8. Organise educational programmes to create environmental awareness
among children students and train teachers in environmental education.
9. Centres of conservation of endangered and rare species.

5. 10. Botanical gardens provide living plant materials for research.
11. They serve as pollution indicator centres by growing pollution – susceptible plants.
12. Most of the economic plants were originally introduced and distributed to the other parts of the world
through botanic gardens.
13. Inspire poets, litrators etc. by providing aesthetical pleasure.
14. Serene site for relaxation. The gardens provide a suitable environment for relaxation and relieve the
body and the mind of the stress and strain.
15. Garden therapy for eye-sight, mental-stress etc.
16. People of advance—age find a great solace in lovely gardens.
17. Gardens also arrange flowers shows, put on displays seasonal plants, flowers and plants of
unusual interest.
18. The landscape gardens are becoming quite popular and land a great charm to the adjoining building like
libraries, museums, sportground etc.
19. Conserve the flora and fauna in natural habitat.

6. History of Botanical Gardens:
• The gardens are as old as civilization. Man had begun to cultivate plants in gardens, to supply himself conveniently with food, to provide drugs, or to grow
beautiful flowers. Even very primitive tribes engage in vegetable gardening and often, surprisingly, flower gardening.
• In the ancient civilization gardens were prominent features of the grounds of temples or palaces, as well as of the homes of the nobility. The number of plants
cultivated by the ancient Egyptians was a source of wonder to neighbouring peoples. The “Hanging Gardens” of Babylon are counted among the wonders of
the ancient world.
• With the Renaissance and the widening of men’s horizons, the art of gardening prospered as a result of new enthusiasm. Bizarre and valuable plants from the
newly discovered lands brought a new zest for plant introduction.
• The sixteenth century herbalists, as we have seen, acquainted the world with hundreds of plants, many of them growing in gardens. A mounting interest in the
growing of flowers for beautification of grounds around homes led to the introduction of species from the parts of the world.
• The interest in learning that led to the establishment and development of the great universities resulted likewise in the establishment of botanical gardens in
connection with the schools.
• In India the botanic gardens existed at a very early date probably as early as 546 B.C. The famous Indian physician Jivaka Komarabhacca who flourished during
the region of King Bimbisara of Magadh (modern Bihar) from 546 to 494 B.C. made intensive survey of the medicinal plants of India.
• These gardens have been in existence throughout India for thousands of years and have been repeatedly mentioned in ancient Sanskrit literature. They
functioned as the botanical gardens of the Old World.
• The botanical gardens reflected the growth of human culture of the regions in which they were situated today, and reflect the glory of a nation or of a country.
The Indian history, which runs through thousands of years, we find that these gardens flourished with the rise of different dynasties and dwindled away with
their fall. During the progress of Mughals, East India Company, and British, botanical gardens prospered and with their fall, the garden decayed. Now with
India’s independence, they are again coming up. A network of botanical gardens have come up and are functioning throughout the country with intensive
botanical activity.

7. Role of
Botanical
Gardens:
1. Taxonomic Studies: Botanical gardens provide valuable information on
various plants Local flora, bonsai, rare plants etc. They act as “outdoor
laboratories” for students and researchers.
2. Botanical Research: Botanical gardens supply wide range of plant
species, seeds, flowers, fruits for botanical research.
3. Conservation: Botanical gardens conserve and propagate rare species
and genetic diversity.
4. Education: They supply facilities for courses in local flora, horticulture,
hybridization, plant propagation, etc. There educational programmes
include workshops, training sessions for teachers, students, naturalists
etc.
5. Public Services. They help the public in identifying the local and exotic
plant species; provide instructions for home gardening’s, propagation of
plants; supply plant resource;, through sale or exchange.
6. Aesthetics and Recreation: They attract people who have made
gardening their hobby.
7. Employment: They create job opportunities for a large number of
young botanists.

8. 1. Lalbagh or the Mysore State
Botanical Garden, Bangalore:
• It is a historic garden that has attained a privileged place among
the gardens of the word.
• It is considered to be the best in the east for its layout, grandeur,
maintenance, scientific interest and scenic beauty. KEW, the
mother institute of world botanic gardens, has influenced and
helped it by supplying new plants and trained staff since 1856.
• Lalbagh has influenced the development of horticulture in India
by extensive plant introduction.
• This garden was laid in the form of royal retreat in Bangalore by
Sultan Hyder Ali in 1760. He imported plants from Delhi, Lahore
and Multan for this garden. His son Tippu Sultan further
improved it, and introduced many new species of flowering and
fruit plants. Some of ilk trees planted during Tippu’s time still
adorn the garden.
• Major Waugh was its director during 1799-1819. He introduced
a number of foreign exotic plants in this garden. However, Dr.
Cleghorn made it a real botanic garden it) 1856. A tropical
nursery was established in the garden in 1908. Rao Bahadur H.C.
Jayaraja was the first Indian director of this garden. The garden is
now a big centre of horticultural activities. It now has well-
equipped laboratories for seed-testing and soil-testing, and also
a grape orchard, tree nursery, fruit nursery, pot-garden,
economic garden, and a herbal garden.

9. Lloyd Botanic Garden, Darjeeling
The initiative to develop a botanic garden near Darjeeling in
Himalayas came from Sir Ashley Eden, the then Lieutenant
Governor of Bengal. The garden came into existence as a
branch establishment of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta,
and was laid out on 40 acres of land donated by Mr. William
Lloyed, under the guidance of Sir George king. The garden is
situated at an altitude of 6000 ft. with an annual rainfall of
110 inches. The climatic conditions there have helped to
establish and sustain the characteristic flora of Sikkim
Himalayas. Mr A.G. Jeffrey was the first curator of this garden.
Since 1910, this garden has become a major institution for the
distribution of seeds, bulbs, and plants of temperate
Himalayas to different parts of the world. It has a vast
collection of plants from Burma, China and Japan. It has
separate sections of coniferous and indigenous plants. A Rock
Garden, Orchidarium, Bulbous section, Succulent section,
Seed section, Herbarium of over 30,000 specimens, and
Rosary are its major attractions. Its coniferous section has 45
species including Australian Callitris.

10. 3. National Botanic Garden, Luknow:
• Lucknow, the city of Nawabs, once used to be the city of
gardens too. The present National Botanic Garden is
popularly known as Sikander Bagh. The Sikander Bagh was
originally laid out by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan (1789-1814)
and was later on expanded and improved by Nawab Wajid
Ali Shah and named it after his beloved Begum Sikander
Mahal.
• It was converted into a botanic garden in its new form in
1946 by Professor K.N. Kaul, its first director. The idea of
establishing a botanic garden at Lucknow originated in 1929
following the interest aroused by a drug, Santonin, obtained
from Artemisia maritima. At that time Soviet Union was the
only supplier of this drug to the world.
• The present garden and its laboratories are spread over 27
acres of land on the bank of river Gomti. Popular attractions
of this garden are its Rosarium, Palm house, Cactus house,
Fern house, Orchid house, and orchards of mango, Citrus
and guava. It has well-equipped laboratories of Plant
Morphology, Aromatics, Cytogenetics, Plant breeding,
Tissue culture, Virology, Palynology, Plant Physiology,
Entomology, etc. The garden bears an added experimental
research station at Banthra, about 20 km from Lucknow.

11. 4. Botanical Garden of Forest
Research Institute, Dehradun:
• It is perhaps the youngest member of the family of botanic gardens in India, yet it has attained the
status of one of the 500 principal botanic gardens of the world. It was established in 1934 under the
leadership of C.E. Parkinson. The later successors N. L. Bor and M. B. Raizada made invaluable
contributions to this botanic garden and its herbarium. S. Kedarnath, who looks over in 1962,
continued the work of introduction of exotic plants.
• It covers an area of about 20 acres in New Forest Estate, Dehradun, and is the main Indian centre of
research in problems related with plant introduction. There are about 700 species of plants belonging
to about 400 genera and about 100 families in this garden. Over half of these 700 species have been
introduced from different parts of the world. The garden has a greenhouse, a cactus house and a Plant
Introductory Nursery. Its biggest attraction is a big herbarium holding over 30, 00, 00 plant specimens
from all over the world.

12. 5. Indian Botanical Garden, Calcutta –
The Largest Botanical Garden of India:
• The Royal Botanic Garden or the Indian Botanic Garden, as renamed in
1950, Sibpur, Calcutta, was laid on 310 acres of land on the bank of the
river Hoogly in 1787 at the initiative of Col. Robert Kyd of the Bengal
infantry. William Roxburgh, the Father of Indian Botany, was its second
director and founded the world famous herbarium of this garden. The
garden is now under the control of Botanical Survey of India. Dr. K. Biswas
was the first Indian to be appointed Superintendent of this garden in
1937. George King was the designer of this garden.
• The garden is now noted for potato cultivation and introduction of jute,
sugarcane, tea, and quinine-yielding Cinchona. Cultivation of Aloe, coffee,
India-rubber, cardamom, are Henbane are some of the special
achievements of this garden.
• The great Banyan tree, which is one of the largest trees in size in the
world, is the main centre of attraction of this garden. It appears like a
miniature forest in itself. Over 1700 of its aerial roots are actually rooted
in the ground. The circumference of the canopy of this single tree is more
than 405 metre.
• It is considered to be over 250 years of age. There are over 15000 species
of plants in this garden from several countries. Some main attractions of
the garden are its Palm-house, Orchid-house, Pinetum, Ternary, Cacti-
collection, the giant water lily, Victoria regia, and the section of medicinal
plants.
• The garden has the largest and best herbarium in the country. The large
number of herbarium specimens (about 2.5 million) and the type
materials add to the value of the herbarium. Since 1957, the major part
of this collection has been shifted to the Botanical Survey of India.
Botanical Garden being the headquarter of Botanical survey of India. It is
now called The Central National Herbarium, Calcutta.

13. Royal Botanical Gardens
• The famous Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew started as the private garden of Sir Henry
Capel, an enthusiastic horticulturist who died in 1696. It was in about 1759 that the
Dowager Princess of Wales, the Princess Augusta Saxe – Gotha, started to develop
here a royal botanic garden.
• The early lay-out and the development of the garden was controlled for the Princess
mostly by John Stuart, third Earl of Bute, with whom were associated Sir John Hill and
the architect Sir William Chambers. After the death of Princess Augusta, her son
George III developed additional properties at Kew.
• It was from the amalgamation of Kew Garden, especially on pleasure grounds with
Richmond Garden that the institution retained the designation “Gardens” in plural.
• Under the directorship of Sir Joseph Bank many new plants were added in the
Gardens, and several collectors were sent overseas to India, South Africa, West Indies,
North America, South America, Australia and some other places. Many of the plants
thus added were entirely new to Botany. In the late Hanoverian period Kew declined
and in 1838 the Treasury appointed a committee to enquire into the affairs and
working conditions of the Royal Gardens. As a result of the enquiry, the Gardens were
transferred from the Crown to the State and Sir William Jackson Hooker, Regius
Professoi of Botany in the University of Glasgow was appointed Director in March
1841.
• Under the Directorship of Sir William Jackson Hooker, the Gardens were increased in
size from less than 20 to more than 250 acres. New Greenhouses were added
including a large Palm House and Temperate House, economic museums were set up,
a lake was constructed and in 1853, the Herbarium and Library were started.
• W. J. Hooker had great administrative abilities and he published and edited books,
periodicals and papers on various botanical topics.