A Botanic Garden For The Nation

This beautifully illustrated book presents the first comprehensive look at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Through historical documents and colorful photos, A Botanic Garden for the Nation tells an important story about this special place. The story begins in 1796 with the support of George Washington, who believed a Botanic Garden would be a significant addition to the capital. Along with other early leaders, including Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, Washington understood the value of plants for the health and economic well-being of the nation, a message that still resonates today. Through sumptuous photographs, A Botanic Garden for the Nation offers a tour of the Conservatory, starting with the formal Garden Court, with its foundations and special flower collections, and continuing through every plant environment, including the lush Jungle, colorful Orchid House, and spare World Deserts. The engaging text explores ecosystems and reveals details about interesting plants and plant collections.

This beautifully illustrated book presents the first comprehensive look at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Through historical documents and coloful photos, A Botanic Garden for the Nation tells an important story about this special place. The story begins in 1796 with the support of George Washington, who believed a bBotanic Garden would be a significant addition to the capital. Along with other early leaders, including Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, Washington understood the value of plants for the health and economic well-being of the nation, a message that still resonates today. Through sumptuous photographs, A Botanic Garden for the Nation offers a tour of the Conservatory, starting with the formal Garden Court, with its foundations and special flower collections, and continuing through every plant environment, including the lush Jungle, colorful Orchid House, and spare World Deserts. The engaging text explores ecosystems and reveals details aobut interesting plants and plant collections.

Established in 1859, Singapore's Botanic Gardens has served as a park for Singaporeans and visitors, a scientific institution, and a testing ground for tropical plantation crops. Each function has its own story, while the Gardens also fuel an underlying narrative of the juncture of administrative authority and the natural world. Created to help exploit natural resources for the British Empire, the Gardens became contested ground in conflicts involving administrators and scientists that reveal shifting understandings of power, science and nature in Singapore and in Britain. This continued after independence, when the Gardens featured in the "e;greening"e; of the nation-state, and became Singapore's first World Heritage Site. Positioning the Singapore Botanic Gardens alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and gardens in India, Ceylon, Mauritius and the West Indies, this book tells the story of nature's colony-a place where plants were collected, classified and cultivated to change our understanding of the region and world.

Approaching the contributions of a world-wide sector of scientific institutions to addressing the extinction crisis, Botanical Gardens and Their Role in Plant Conservation brings together a diversity of perspectives. There are more than 3,600 botanical gardens worldwide, where trees, shrubs, herbs, and other plants are studied and managed in collections. They are foremost among efforts to conserve the diversity of living plant species and ensure that crucial biodiversity is available for the future of humanity. This book is a showcase for plant conservation, restoration, biodiversity, and related scientific and educational work of botanical gardens around the world, featuring both thematic overview chapters and numerous case studies that illustrate the critical role these institutions play in fighting extinction and ensuring plant diversity is available for sustainable use. FEATURES A wide range of case studies derived from practical experience in a diversity of institutional, national, and biogeographical settings, Reviews of topics such as networking amongst institutions, the importance of global policy agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, Profiles of botanical gardens contributions at the national level to conservation priorities, Real-world examples of programs in plant conservation for both critically endangered wild plant diversity and unique horticultural or cultural germplasm. Botanical Gardens and Their Role in Plant Conservation includes contributions from institutions from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas, and institutions of all sizes and histories, from long-established national gardens to new gardens offering their perspectives on developing their roles in this vital undertaking.

Across the world hundreds of botanic gardens combine scientific research, conservation and beauty with public access, with Kew Gardens alone attracting around one million visitors a year. For centuries they have variously focused on cultivating medicinal and exotic plants, introducing lucrative crops such as tea and rubber to new countries, preserving international plant collections, scientific classification and research – or have combined all these things. Sarah Rutherford here tells their story from the sixteenth-century up to their long heyday in the last two hundred years. She explains the gardens' design and architecture, the personalities and institutions associated with them, their important role in research and conservation, and their appeal to millions of visitors.

A lavishly illustrated look at botanic gardens and the work that goes on behind the scenes to save our botanical heritage.