Jardín Botánico Francisco Javier Clavijero

Institution Code: XAL

International Agenda Registration: Y

BGCI Member: Y

The Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanic Garden was inaugurated in February of 1977. It is located in Xalapa, about 500 km East of Mexico City, into the natural distribution of temperate montane cloud forest. Through its 30 years, the Garden has become one of the most important in Mexico.

Native tropical montane cloud forests are considered among the most biodiverse and endangered ecosystems of the planet, and the Clavijero Garden is the only one in Mexico situated in this highlighted ecosystem. This unique vegetation cover approximately 1.5 Ha. into the Garden. It consists of large native trees (Ulmus mexicana, Ostrya virginiana, Quercus spp.), shrubs, tree ferns (Alsophila firma), undergrowth palms (Chamaedorea spp.) and many species of epiphytes, mainly bromeliads (Tillandsia spp), orchids, epiphytic ferns, and peperomias among others.

Began in the late 1970s, the Mexican National Cycad Collection consists of the 50 species described to date for Mexico, like Dioon spp, Zamia spp. and Ceratozamia spp. . It includes at least one species from each of the other world genera, except Chigua. It supports various fields of scientific research, as DNA bar-coding. Cultivation experiments are carried out to improve propagation methods. It is considered the most important cycad collection in Latin America.

Developed on past five years, the Mexican National Bamboo Collection is currently well established and comprehensive. It includes 27 native species of genera Aulonemia, Guadua, Chusquea, Rhipidocladum, Olmeca and Otatea, and supports research in plant anatomy, horticulture and ethnobotany. Part of both collections are on exhibition and are used for educational purposes at all levels. Besides, the Garden’s experts assesses sustainable management nurseries of these groups.

An outstanding Chinese tree species at the Garden is Metasequoia glyptostroboides reported to be the southernmost specimen of this species under cultivation in North America, including Central America.

Aimed to children and families, our educational programme “Todos al Jardín Botánico” includes activities of popular science, arts and other recreational events. It is the starting point for approaching themes about nature conservation to the people of Xalapa. Besides being a beautiful place for leisure and relaxation, the Garden is recognized as an outstanding environmental educational center, notable for its living collections and public educational events. The Garden receives approximately 40,000 visitors a year.

The Garden holds a documented living collection, consisting of 3,864 specimens among 750 species, distributed among pinetum, arboretum, palmetum, native cloud forest, pond and research greenhouses. There is also an exhibition of a traditional shade coffee plantation, a feature of the Veracruz cloud mountain landscape. 40% of its collections are endangered species.

All collections in the grounds are mapped on coordinates using a botanic gardens data base system (BG-Base and BG-Map) and the living collections in greenhouses are in the process of micro-chipping, especially the more valuable and rare ones.