A botanical garden isa garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation, preservation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It is a very complex institution that has within it different branches or components. These components are saddled with related task which determines the general functions of a botanical garden. These components of a botanical garden include.
1. Nursery. A nursery is a section of a botanical or horticultural garden where plants are propagated and grown to usable sizes. Although the popular image of a nursery is that of a supplier of garden plants. The range of nursery functions is far wider and is of vital importance to many branches of agriculture, forestry and conservation biology. Some nurseries specialize in one phase of the process: propagation and growing out of plants for domestic or commercial purposes.
2. Arboretum. The term ‘Arboretum’ (plural. Arboreta) is a component of a botanical garden that contains living collection of woody plants intended at least, partly for scientific studies. An arboretum that contains living collection of conifers is called Pinetum, while that which contains oaks is called Quercetum and so on.
3. Greenhouse. A greenhouse (also known as a glasshouse or when composed of heating facilities, a hothouse) is a structure in the botanical garden that consists of walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, transparent roofing sheets etc, in which plants requiring regulated conditions are grown.
Botanical Garden and Plant Conservation
Plant conservation and the heritage value of exceptional historic landscapes were treated with a growing sense of urgency. Specialist gardens were sometimes given a separate or adjoining site, to display native and indigenous plants. It maintains a database of rare and endangered species in botanical gardens’ living collections. Many gardens hold ex situ conservation collections that preserve genetic variation. These may be held as: seeds dried and stored at low temperature, or in tissue culture , eg, the Kew Millennium Seedbank); as living plants, including those that are of special horticultural, historical or scientific interest or by managing and preserving areas of natural vegetation. Collections are often held and cultivated with the intention of reintroduction to their original habitats. For instance, the botanical garden of the Forestry Research Institute, Ibadan coordinates the conservation of indigenous and introduced plant species in Nigeria while the Centre for Plant Conservation at St Louis, Missouri coordinates the conservation of native North American species.
Physic Gardens
These are gardens developed for the purpose of cultivating herbs for medicinal use as well as research and experimentation. Botanical gardens, in the modern sense were developed from physic gardens. In Europe, for example, Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE) is said to have had a physic garden in the Lyceum at Athens, which was used for educational purposes and for the study of botany, and this was inherited, or possibly set up, by his pupil Theophrastus, the “Father of Botany”. This ancient garden shares some of the characteristics of present-day botanical garden, as both garden types encourage the collection, documentation and study of different plant species as well as promoting horticultural education to the public.
The difference between Botanical Garden and Physic Garden
The major difference between Botanical garden and Physic garden is that the primary purpose of collection, cultivation and display of plants with their botanical names in the Botanical garden is mainly for education and scientific research while in physic garden, the scientific management of plants is for the purpose of raising vegetables and medicinal plants.
Functions botanical garden
The functions of botanical gardens emphasise the scientific underpinning of botanical gardens with their focus on research, education and conservation. However, as multifaceted organisations, different Botanical Gardens have a remarkable paper on the role of botanical gardens. Many of these functions are listed below to give a sense of the scope of botanical gardens’ activities.
1. To make plants and plant materials available for scientific research
2. Display of plant diversity in form and use
3. To display plants of particular regions (including local)
4. Local plants are sometimes grown within their particular families
5. Plants are grown for their seed or rarity
6. To make major timber trees available for use
7. To accurately label all plants for easy identification and study
8. Documentation of plants and their performance information
9. Catalogues of holdings are published periodically
10. To assist other research facilities utilising the living collections
11. To grow plants of economic significance
12. To study and maintain glasshouse plants of different climates
13. To consolidate scientific research in plant taxonomy
14. To study different vegetations for proper conservation of plants
15. To encourage student education through field trips and excursion
16. Selection and introduction of ornamental and other plants to commerce
17. To maintain a database of safe, rare and endangered plant species
18. To publish journal reports on the effects of plants on livestock
Functions of a Botanical Gardener
The functions of a gardener working in a botanical garden include.
- A gardener is responsible for raising plants from seeds or cuttings.
- He digs, plants and weeds flower beds and borders.
- He also prunes shrubs for their better performance and beauty.
- Botanical gardener applies nutrients to plants and maintains their moisture level requirements.
- He checks the health of plants by identifying pests or diseases and controls them.
- A botanical gardener may need to answer questions from visitors or lead garden walks.
