There are now 1,775 botanic gardens and arboreta in 148 countries around the world.

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"

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

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.