There are now 1,775 botanic gardens and arboreta in 148 countries around the world
​which contain more than 5 million living plant collections.

This section introduces botanical artists to what's available on each continent with respect to:
best botanic gardens, herbariums, seed banks and fungaria in each country/continent around the world,  
Where would the botanical artist be without the botanical garden?
  • Such gardens are an important source of plant material unless an artist focuses on portraying plants commonly found in domestic gardens.
  • A number also run botanical art schools or courses for the aspiring botanical artist.
  • Finally they are a source of employment for the professional botanical illustrator.
Many gardens offer opportunities for learning more about plants and access to specimens of different species.  
  • Some have archives and/or galleries of botanical art. 
  • Some have Herbariums
  • Others have active teams of people who seek out and illustrate plants for specific projects relating to botanical endeavour.​

Learn about Botanic Gardens, Herbariums, Seed Banks and Fungaria
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If you have a particular Botanical Garden you'd like to recommend to other botanical artists, please leave your suggestion and any feedback about it via my Contact Page

The Early Botanic Gardens
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Many of the botanic gardens associated with universities and medical schools grew out of old Physic Gardens maintained by the monasteries.  

The following is a timeline of the establishment of the earliest botanic gardens in Europe:
  • 1544 - Pisa, Italy
  • 1545 - Padua, Italy - still preserved very largely in its original condition
  • 1547 / 1568 - Bologna, Italy
  • 1560 - Zurich, Switzerland
  • 1577 - Leyden, 
  • 1579 - Leipzig
  • 1598 - Montpellier
  • 1597 - Paris (known as Jardins des Plantes after 1635.)
  • before 1600 - Heidelburg
  • 1605 - Giessen
  • 1620 - Strasbourg
  • 1629 - Jena
  • 1657 - Upsala
  • 1673 - London, Chelsea
  • 1679 - Berlin
  • 1680 - Edinburgh
  • 1682 Amsterdam

You can read more about Botanical Gardens from the past on my web page 'Old Botanic Gardens in London"

Jennifer A. Heise has summarised characteristics of Medieval Gardens and her article has an extensive bibliography.

What is the correct term - Botanic Garden or Botanical Garden?
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The term Botanic Garden is mostly used for the older / earlier Botanic Gardens. Newer gardens are more often known as Botanical Gardens. While the names are often used interchangeably, the status of the older garden sometimes requires correct referencing - and this only happens when English is used.
Other terms for a Botanic Garden are:
  • Garden of Simples - term used for the oldest botanical gardens, those used by monks to grow herbs for medicinal use. A 'simple' is a herb used on its own in medical treatment.
  • Hortus Botanicus - Latin for Botanic Garden - used for the oldest gardens in the Netherlands)
  • Orto Botanico - Italian used for the oldest Botanic Gardens)
  • ​Jardins botaniques - French
  • Botanischer Garten - German
  • Jardin Botanico - Spanish

What is a Botanic Garden?
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"Botanic gardens are institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education."
International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation - Definition of a Botanic Garden
Picture
The Order Beds - of Plant Families - at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Defining a Botanic Garden
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According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International - the criteria used for the definition of a botanic garden are as follows.
The following is a list of criteria that may be met in part or whole by any institution that is considered to be a botanic garden:

  • - A reasonable degree of permanence
  • - An underlying scientific basis for the collections
  • - Proper documentation of the collections, including wild origin
  • - Monitoring of the plants in the collections
  • - Adequate labelling of the plants
  • - Open to the public
  • - Communication of information to other gardens, institutions and the public
  • - Exchange of seed or other materials with other botanic gardens, arboreta or research institutions
  • - Undertaking of scientific or technical research on plants in the collections
  • - Maintanence of research programs in plant taxonomy in associated herbaria.
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