Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden

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India - West Bengal - Howrah

Institution Code: CAL

BGCI Member: No

The great banyan at Howrah's Botanic Garden. Image kindly supplied by Rajesh Singh on <a href=Flickr" />
The great banyan at Howrah's Botanic Garden. Image kindly supplied by Rajesh Singh on Flickr

About the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden

The Indian Botanical Gardens are most famous for the Great Banyan Tree,which boasts of having the largest canopy in the world.

The official name of the Garden during the Company's rule was 'The Hon'ble Company's Botanic Garden, Calcutta', subsequently, it was renamed 'The Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta' in the early 1860s. At present, it is officially called 'Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah', but is known generally as the 'Calcutta Botanic Garden' in India and abroad. [source: Banglapedia]

The gardens were originally founded in 1786 by Colonel Kyd, containing about 12,000 living plants and over two and half million dried plant specimens in the herbarium collected from all over the world. This is the oldest of all the Botanical Gardens in India. It was from these gardens that the tea now grown in Assam and Darjeeling was first developed. Trees of the rarest kinds, from Nepal, Brazil, Penang, Java and Sumatra can be found here. There are towering Mahogany trees, an avenue of Cuban Palms and an Orchid House. Mango and Tamarind trees shade the grassy lawns. Col. Alexander Kyd of the East India Company developed it for the collection of plants, indigenous to the country and for the introduction and acclimatization of plants from foreign parts. It remains opened from sunrise to sunset. This ethereal ambience is ideal for fun, fiesta and frolics.There is a serpentine lake where boat­ing is possible. Botanics posseses a priceless collection of books in its library.

Main Address:
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden
Botanical Survey of India
Shibpur
Howrah
West Bengal 711 103 India

Telephone: 67 32 31 35
Fax:
URL:
Primary Email:

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Dr R.K. Chakraverty
    Curator's Name:
    Plant Records Officer's Name:

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Date founded: 1786
  • Physical Data
  • Total Area: 109 Hectares
    Latitude: 22.6507
    Longitude: 88.2658
    Altitude: 0.00 Metres

Features and Facilities

Plant Collections

  • Special Collections:Economic plants, medicinal plants, Palmae (109 spp.), Bambuseae (26 spp.),Orchidaceae (80 spp.), Jasmines (25 spp.), water lilies (30 cvs of 4 spp.), Pandanus, Bougainvillea (148 cvs.), Citrus, succulents (100 spp.), medicinal plants (450 spp.).

    The Indian Botanic Garden (Calcutta), Howrah (established: 1787) has a large collection of palms representing about 116 species under 53 genera and 8 subfamilies of Arecaceae (Palmae). This is one of the largest refugia of palms in South East Asia. Many of the species are economical having great potentiality in agriculture, industries as well as in domestic use and utility. Also there is a magnificent assemblage of ornamental palms and palms of horticultural importance. Special emphasis is centered on the conservation and multiplication of rare, endangered and endemic species under ex situ condition in the Garden. The paper (*) deals with the phenological studies of selected interesting genera and species under different subfamilies. The onset of flowering, their duration, peculiarities and possible mechanism of pollination and fruit dispersal have been elucidated. This may contribute useful information to the palm taxonomists, pollination biologists as well as growers and nurserymen engaged in multiplication and trade, the ornamental palms in particular. [Source: Acta Horticulturae]

Conservation Programmes

Research Programmes

Education Programmes