2. In this
article we
will discuss
about:-
• Definition of Botanical
Garden
• Functions of Botanical
Gardens
• History.
3. Definition
of
Botanical
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
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.
6. History of BotanicalGardens:
• 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
Botanic
al
Garden
s:
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
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,
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
13. Royal BotanicalGardens
• 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.
