Botanic Gardens

A History of Botanic Gardens: Cultivating Science, Conservation, and Beauty

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 classifica…