WikiWorks at 14:44, 9 April 2007

2007-04-09T14:44:43Z

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[[Image:US botanic garden 2.jpg|right|thumbnail|300px|Inside the [[United States Botanic Garden]]]]

'''Botanical gardens''' grow a wide variety of [[plant]]s primarily categorized and documented for scientific purposes. [[Botanist]]s and [[horticulturalists]] tend the [[flora (plants)|flora]] and maintain the garden's library and [[herbarium]] of dried and documented plant material. Botanical gardens may also serve to entertain and educate the public, upon whom many depend for funding. However, not all botanical gardens are open to the public: for example the [[Chelsea Physic Garden]]. According to the [http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/international_agenda International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation], "Botanic gardens are institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education."

==Research==
From the late [[18th century]] onward, [[Europe]]an botanical gardens began sending plant-collecting expeditions to various parts of the world and publishing their findings. Voyages of exploration routinely included botanists for this purpose. Subsequent scientific work studied how these exotic plants might be adapted to grow in the garden's locale, how to [[taxonomy|classify]] them, and how to [[plant propagation|propagate]] rare or [[endangered species]]. The [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Royal Botanic Gardens]] in [[Kew]], near [[London]], has continuously published journals and more recently catalogues and databases since this time.

==Educational work==
Educational projects at botanical gardens range from introductions to plants that thrive in different environments to practical advice for the home gardener. Many have plant shops, selling flower, herb, and vegetable seedlings suitable for transplantation. Some gardens such as the [[UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research]] and the [[Chicago Botanic Garden]] have plant breeding programs and introduce new plants to the [[horticulture|horticultural]] trade.

<gallery>
Image:US botanic garden 3.jpg|Inside the [[United States Botanic Garden]]
Image:Kew_Palm_House.JPG|Inside [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Kew Gardens]] Palm House
Image:Aswan, Kitchener's Island, palm alley, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|A botanical garden of [[Kitchener's Island]], [[Aswan]]
Image:UBC Botanical Garden water.jpg|[[UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research|University of British Columbia Botanical Garden]]
Image:Jardim Botânico de Coimbra2.jpg|[[Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra]], [[Portugal]]
Image:ButterflyOnFlowerInBotanicalGardens.jpg|A butterfly on a flower at the Botanic Garden in [[Washington, DC]]
Image:Day248dbotanicali.jpg|Sulphur waterfall in [[St Lucia]] Botanical Gardens
Image:Singapore Botanic Gardens, Evolution Garden 22, Sep 06.JPG|[[Singapore Botanic Gardens]]
</gallery>

==History==
[[Image:Fd000009.jpg|right|thumbnail|300px|Inside the Rio de Janeiro Botanic Garden ([[Brazil]]), 1890]]
The first modern botanical gardens were founded in Northern [[Italy]] in connection with universities:
* [[Pisa]] (1544) by Luca Ghini (1490-1556)
* [[Padua]] (1545)
* [[Florence]] (1545)
* [[Bologna]] (1567)

Other European towns and universities then followed suit:
* [[Valencia]], [[Spain]] (1567)
* [[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]] (1590)
* [[Montpellier]], [[France]] (1593)
* [[Heidelberg]], [[Germany]] (1597)
* [[Tübingen]], [[Germany]] by [[Leonhart Fuchs]]
* [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]] (1600)
* [[University of Oxford Botanic Garden|Oxford]], [[England]] (1621)
* [[Uppsala]], [[Sweden]] (1655)
* [[Hannover]], [[Germany]] (1666)

==See also==
*[[List of botanical gardens]]
*[[Plant collecting]]

==External links==
*[http://www.bgci.org Botanic Gardens Conservation International]


[[Category:Gardening]]
[[Category:Botanical gardens|*]]

Botanical garden - Revision history

WikiWorks at 14:44, 9 April 2007