Jardin Botanique de Cayes

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Haiti - Sud - Les Cayes

Institution Code: CABG

BGCI Member: Yes

Main Address:
Jardin Botanique de Cayes
Route Nationale 2
Les Cayes
Sud HT8110 Haiti

Telephone: (+509) 43092809
Fax:
URL: https://www.jardinbotaniquecayeshaiti.org
Primary Email: jardinbotaniquedecayes@gmail.com

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Natacha Beaussejour
    Curator's Name: William Cinea
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Marie Huguena Jean Louis
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 11
    Educational Staff Number: 2
    Research Staff Number: 4
    Administration Staff Number: 4

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: Yes
    Status: State: Yes
    Status: Educational: Yes
    Status: Municipal: No
    Status: Satellite: No
    Status: Trust: Yes
  • Date founded: 2003
  • Physical Data
  • Natural Vegetation Area: Yes
    Natural vegetation area: Size: 1 Hectares
  • Landscaped Area: Yes
    Landscaped Area: Size: 7 Hectares
  • Total Area: 8 Hectares
    Latitude: 18.9711
    Longitude: -72.2852
    Altitude: 0.00 Metres

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: Yes
    Herbarium: Number of Specimens: 200
    Arboretum: Yes
    Arboretum Size: 1
  • Published Plant Catalogue: Yes
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Shop: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Plant Sales: Yes
    Disabled access: Yes
  • Number of Visitors: 10000
    Number of Volunteers: 1

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 1500
  • Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: Yes
    Medicinal Plant Programme: Yes
    Ex Situ Conservation Programme: Yes
    Reintroduction Programme: Yes

Research Programmes

  • Conservation - Biology: Yes
    Conservation - Genetics: Yes
    Data Management Systems and Information Technology: Yes
    Ecology: Yes
    Ecosystem Conservation: Yes
    Education: Yes
    Ethnobotany: Yes
    Exploration: Yes
    Floristics: Yes
    Horticulture: Yes
    Invasive Species Biology and Control: Yes
    Restoration Ecology: Yes
    Systematics and Taxonomy: Yes
    Land Restoration: Yes
    Urban Environments: Yes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Special Exhibitions: Yes
    Courses for School Children: Yes
    Courses for University/College Students: Yes
    Courses for General Public: Yes
    Education Programme: Yes

Haiti’s road to restoration

Cayes Botanical Garden is working to improve restoration success in Haiti.  They are gathering important ecological information that will be crucial to guide future restoration efforts. 

A significant proportion of Haiti’s native forest has been cleared, firstly for colonial plantations, and more recently for charcoal production. Deforestation has had severe environmental consequences such as soil erosion, flooding and degradation of water resources. Lack of botanical expertise is a major obstacle to restoring Haiti’s forest. Millions of dollars have been spent on reforestation efforts however there has been little long-term success. 

Cayes Botanical Garden is one of the few institutions in Haiti that hold the botanical and horticultural expertise required to improve the country’s restoration success. In addition to completing baseline floristic surveys, the botanic garden has established native plant plots within its grounds to gather important ecological information that will be crucial to guide future restoration efforts.

Seed and data collection in Macaya Park 

Samyda pubescens is an example of a native species that has been collected and propagated in the garden. The research has identified that this species is an important food source for Haitian native fauna, but unfortunately, forests where it is present have been widely cleared for agriculture. Cayes Botanical Garden is promoting the use of S. pubescens in restoration projects to benefit native fauna, and it is also being promoted in the horticultural trade as it produces an abundance of attractive white and pink flowers.

Samyda pubescens seeds

Please contact William Cinea for more information about Cayes Botanical Garden restoration work.