Durban Botanical Gardens

Arboretum in Durban's Botanical Gardens

Plants in the Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens Durban ( English : Durban Botanic Gardens , just DBG) are a public garden in South Africa . Their emergence goes back to two agricultural test stations for useful plants . The facilities owned by the City of Durban are used for education, research and recreation.

Overview

The main collection areas are cycads , palms , orchids and bromeliads . Furthermore, there are over 80 rare trees from different regions of the world that are over 100 years old and are therefore among the particularly valuable trees within this botanical facility. The arboretum has trees from Africa , Asia and America .

The Durban Botanical Gardens are the oldest preserved botanical facility on the African continent and at the same time the oldest publicly accessible institution in Durban.

location

The Durban Botanical Gardens are located northwest of the Durban Central district on Botanic Gardens Road , about two kilometers from the city center.

Not far from the botanical grounds is the Warwick Triangle Herbal Market , one of the largest traditional trading centers for plants and plant products in the country.

History of the collections

Historical views of parts of the complex

As a result of the restructured and expanded Kew Gardens in London in the 1840s and the greenhouse with tropical plants established there, botanical gardens were created around the world which, in search of useful plants and out of scientific interest , maintained contacts with botanists in Kew . Around 1848, members of the Natal Agriculture and Horticultural Society looked east of what was then the urban area for a suitable area to build a test garden on it.

The earliest areas used for this purpose were in flat terrain not far from the Umgeni River on the foothills of the Berea range of hills near what is now Quarry Road . Charles Johnston began cultivating useful plants here in December 1849. He is considered the first curator of botanically oriented plantings in Durban.

A Scot, Mark McKen, who previously worked at the Bath Botanical Gardens in Jamaica , came to Durban in the early 1850s. This began with the planting of economically usable crops on areas that were close to what was then the city area and represent today's location. On 25 hectares , which were later expanded by another 25, he was able to successfully extract pineapple , cinchona bark , coffee , natural rubber , tea and sugar cane .

The development of the Botanical Gardens at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was particularly shaped by the work of the botanist John Medley Wood , who worked here as curator between 1882 and 1913, the first description of the flora of Natal ( A handbook to the flora of Natal , 1907) and created a herbarium . In the 1890s, the Durban Botanic Gardens and their Colonial Herbarium were among the largest botanical gardens in the British Empire . The University of Cape Town awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1913 for his services . In the same year the facilities were transferred from the Durban Botanic Society to the administration of the city of Durban. The extensive herbaria became state property of the then South African Union .

Detail in the orchid house

The palm collection consists of about 130 species of 58 genera. In essence, it is based on a linear planting along a main path, which was started in 1889 as the "Palmenweg". The Palmetum was created in 1977 in the vicinity of a pond.

The orchid collection was founded by Ernest Thorp, who started collecting in 1931 while still a student. In 1945 he left them in the Durban Botanical Collections. Some local orchid collectors encouraged the development of this collection. In this way it grew considerably until 1960. To better present them, the Ernest Thorp Orchid House was opened in 1962 .

education

For schools, courses are offered based on their curriculum. A public lecture series is devoted to a wide range of topics. Information is offered in favor of a permaculture diet and thematic workshops are held. The library ( William Poulton Library ), opened in 1990, has a stock of horticultural literature.

The Durban Botanic Gardens Trust , as a sponsoring company, contributes to the maintenance and development of the facility. The John Medley Wood Medal is awarded by the Durban Botanic Gardens Trust for special achievements in the field of horticulture and botany in KwaZulu-Natal .

research

Main entrance to the Durban Botanical Gardens

As part of the research cooperation, close relationships developed with the KZN Herbarium of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Durban University of Technology .

Visitors

The Durban Botanic Gardens Visitors' Center has an information office, shop, garden administration and seminar rooms. Durban's Botanical Gardens have around 500,000 visitors annually.