BOTANIC GARDEN (Gk. floram6s, botan i•os, pertaining to herbs. plants; see Bo•ANY). An area upon which is grown a collection of plants primarily for scientific. purposes. In such a collection the idea may be to include as many forms of vegetation as can grow in the conditions of the garden; it may be to illus trate some special phase of botany, as natural relationships, ecology, economic botany, etc.; or it may be to furnish material for instruction and research. The Benedictine monks of Italy are said to have established the first botanic gar dens in the Ninth Century, but they were de signed entirely for growing the various medicinal plants. It was not until the latter part of the Sixteenth Century that plants began to be col lected into gardens for scientific purposes. Since that time the botanic garden has been a grow ing factor in connection with research work, until now a college or university does not seem properly equipped without the facilities of such a garden.
The "Jardin des Plantes" of Paris, established in 1633, probably contains the largest collection of living plants. the catalogue enumerating 15,000 species. One of the most famous gardens is the Royal Garden of Kew. near London, which has its branches in every English colony. It lays stress primarily upon the economic value of plants, the stations in the numerous colonies being almost entirely engaged in testing the economic qualities of plants. In addition to serving this purpose, the garden is a great pleas ure-park; and its herbarium and library make it one of the great centres of work in systematic botany. The botanic garden which is most favorably situated and best equipped for scien tific research is that of Buitenzorg, Java, estab lished by the Government of Holland in 1817. Its original purpose was to test the economic value of plants for the East Indian colonies, but its rare contact with tropiCal vegetation and the scientific spirit of its director have made it a great centre of research. Notable and very
old European gardens are those of Bologna. Leyden. Montpellier. Giessen, Strassburg, Jena, and Upsala. In Germany the botanic garden is an essential adjunct of the botanical insti tutes, and in such conditions the most notable advances in botanical knowledge have been made. Conspicuous among those gardens, with their botanical institutes. which are prominently iden tified with botanical progress, are those of Mu nich. Wiirzburg. Tubingen, Gottingen, and Leip zig.
In the United States a few botanic gardens are in the process of development, but their importance has never been appreciated by those who are able to establish them. That they are necessary adjuncts to any university which pro fesses to do research work is an idea which has never taken any hold upon boards of management. The few gardens which have been started in the United States, and which bid fair to get beyond the initial stage of elementary instruction, are as follows: the Missouri Botanical Garden (the old "Shaw Gardens") at Saint in connec tion with Washington University; the Botanical Garden at Cambridge. in connection with liar yard University, where, upon an area of seven acres, there are about 5000 growing plants; the Arnold Arboretum at Brookline, a public park of Boston, also in connection with Harvard Uni versity, and devoted entirely to hardy trees and shrubs; and the New York Botanical Garden, the most recent and one of the most promising of garden establishments, occupying an area of 250 acres in Bronx Park, New York City.