Role Of The Botanical Gardens

As the name suggests, a botanical garden can be described as a garden that is used for the conservation, collection and display of a variety of plants. These plants are labelled with their botanical names, and this method can be used to preserve a wide variety of endangered plant species. Most of these gardens can be fully or partially open for visitors. 

Botanical gardens are mostly run by scientific institutions or universities that have enough funding to maintain the garden, and in turn, these gardens prove to be useful for the scientific research that goes on in these institutions. The existence of botanical gardens can be traced back to the renaissance period when botanists started preserving plants and using them for their studies. These gardens mostly consisted of plants that had some medicinal value. 

History of botanical gardens-

The history of botanical gardens can be traced back to ancient China. Early botanical gardens were also found in the Mediterranean regions. These gardens were used to grow fruit and vegetables that were used for edible purposes and herbs that could be used to prepare local medication. Once the printing process became more popularised, various written material about plants started circulating amongst people and the interest in harvesting and preserving plants increased. 

The first botanical garden was founded in Italy, and they were associated with medical universities that also used these plants for their medicinal properties and performed research on them. Carolus Clusius was a scientist who got inspired by the concept of the botanical gardens and created a huge collection of more than a hundred tulip bulbs. When the importance of botany as a field of science increased, various botanists started founding more botanical gardens. Due to this change, the use of botanical gardens for mere teaching and medicinal purposes developed into the process of plant harvesting and preservation. 

The layout of botanical gardens-

Botanical gardens are different from normal parks because the layout of these gardens is based on the scientific relation between the plants. The layout of these places is not dependent on the landscape or the recreational value of these places. According to the traditional rules of layout for these botanical gardens, the trees and shrubs are grouped according to the taxonomic categories of the plants. Parts of botanical gardens are also planned based on the geographic origins of a certain plant species. Also, the size of these botanical gardens can vary from a few to thousands of hectares. However, there can be instances where the plants cannot be strictly arranged as per their taxonomic categories because of the sheer size of a certain taxonomic category. 

In the case of the genus Rosa, there are so many man-made hybrid varieties of plants that cannot be interspersed between the natural plant varieties. Many times, several greenhouses are built in association with the botanical gardens. These greenhouses are used for the growth of plants that cannot go through severe seasonal changes. Many greenhouses contain hotbeds that are used for the growth of seeds that cannot grow in the unfavourable external environment. Large botanical gardens also need large storage facilities that can be used for the storage of certain plant varieties and also provide them with suitable temperatures during particular seasons. 

Role of botanical gardens-

Botanical gardens are important for the collection and preservation of various plant varieties. One of the major roles of botanical gardens is to record the local flora of any particular location. These botanical gardens are also used to maintain various monographic works done by botanists. Another role of botanical gardens is the maintenance of living plant material and also the reservation of various living specimens that can play a major role in various fields of research. Various seeds can be transported from these botanical gardens, and they are also associated with various greenhouses. These can help in the collection of plants despite unfavourable weather conditions. 

Some other roles of botanical gardens include-

• Conservation– A major role of botanical gardens is that they are used to conserve endangered plant species.
• Education– Another role of botanical gardens is that they are extensively used for educational purposes and teach botany enthusiasts about various plant varieties. 
• Public service– Botanical gardens help provide information about plant species and hence help the locals in various matters related to gardening. 
• Employment– A major role of botanical gardens is that it provides the people with several employment opportunities. Various positions need to be fulfilled for the proper functioning of a botanical garden. 

Some botanical gardens in India

• Indian Botanic Garden

• Saharanpur Botanical Garden

• Lalbagh Botanical Garden

• Government Botanical Gardens

• Lloyd Botanic Garden

• National Botanic Garden

• Assam State Botanical Garden

• Semmozhi Poonga Botanical Garden

Conclusion :

Hence it can be concluded that botanical gardens are a very important aspect of botanical studies and conservation. They are widely used for the collection and preservation of important plant species, and they can be used for educational and recreational purposes. The concept of botanical gardens started in ancient China, and the first-ever proper botanical garden was found in Italy. Most botanical gardens are found in association with medical colleges and universities. These places have the resources for the maintenance of these gardens, and the products of these gardens can also be used for scientific research. Botanical gardens have various roles such as education, preservation, recreation, employment and public service, to name a few.