Spread over an area of 65 acres, the Botanic Garden
at CSIR-NBRI is one of the oldest and historical gardens in India, known for its
immense contributions to conservation and sustainable utilization of important
plant resources of economic, ornamental, horticultural, biological, ecological,
educational and recreational values. The Botanic Garden is a living repository
of over 5000 taxa/cultivars of various groups of native and exotic plants. The
garden has an excellent collection of 225 cultivars of roses; 115 cultivars of
Gladiolus; 225 cultivars of Chrysanthemum; 200 cultivars of Bougainvillea; 35
races of
Nelumbo nucifera (Lotus); a fern house with 65 species of ferns and fern
allies; a special conservatory for tropical and subtropical plants with 500
species/cultivars; Cactus cum Succulent house with 350 species/varieties; Palm
house with 70 species; Arboretum with400 species of trees and shrubs. Recently
two new plant houses viz.: Cycad House (45 species) and a Moss House (20
species) have been added from conservational and educational point of view. The
'Touch and Smell Garden' for the blind with Braille and audio systems at NBRI is
a pride for our nation. Garden has adequate infrastructure for propagation, such
as nurseries, green and glass houses, experimental plots, micropropogation unit,
mist chambers and drip irrigation facilities.
Botanic
Garden( A National Facility)
The Botanic Garden of CSIR-NBRI is very well
known all over the world. It is the third largest and one of the oldest Botanic
Gardens in India. Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah and
the Lalbagh Gardens, Bangalore occupying the first and second positions,
respectively. Spread over an area of 25 hectares, it is located in the heart of
Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh along the southern bank of river
Gomti at 26° 55’ N latitude, 80o 59’ E longitude and at an altitude of 113 m in
subtropical climate.
This Botanic Garden serves as a National Facility with
four main functions viz. conservation, education, scientific research and
display of plant diversity in plant houses and arboreta. It is designed to
conserve the indigenous and exotic flora and fulfils the basic function of
making available for study, research and use, at one place, a wide diversity of
trees, shrubs, climbers and other plant species. The garden is highly reputed
for its well identified and aesthetically displayed plant wealth in a
well-designed landscape to capture a living nucleus of various plant species for
posterity. Botanic Garden is also a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation
International (BGCI), UK and International Association of Botanic Gardens
(IABG), Nanjing, China. Considering the rich plant diversity in the Botanic
Garden, the Institute has been designated as
Living National Repository under the Govt. of India notification during
2007 by the National
Biodiversity Authority, Chennai under the Biological Diversity Act -
2002. Besides, this Botanic Garden has also been recognized as a
Lead Botanic Garden by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Wildlife,
New Delhi for enhancing the ex-situ conservation activities of rare, endangered
and threatened (RET) taxa.
A repository of germplasm collection of various tropical and sub-tropical
plant species, comprising 5,000 taxa, representing 212 families, the Botanic
Garden has rich genetic treasure of herbs, shrubs, trees and climbers of
ornamental, economic, medicinal, aromatic and the plants of rare importance,
hailing from the indigenous and exotic sources.
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