Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

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United States of America - Florida - Sarasota

Institution Code: SEL

BGCI Member: Yes

About the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Mission
To provide bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history.

Vision
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history. Established by forward thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment. The Historic Spanish Point (HSP) Campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. The HSP Campus, one of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants that is interpreted for and open to the public, celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida history.

Main Address:
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
1534 Mound Street
Sarasota
Florida 34236 United States of America

Telephone: (941) 366-5731
Fax: (941) 366-9807
URL: www.selby.org
Primary Email: contactus@selby.org

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Jennifer Rominiecki
    Curator's Name: Bruce Holst, Vice President for Botany
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Shawn McCourt
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 15
    Educational Staff Number: 5
    Research Staff Number: 5
    Administration Staff Number: 20

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: Yes
    Status: State: No
    Status: Educational: Yes
    Status: Municipal: No
    Status: Satellite: Yes
    Status: Trust: Yes
  • Date founded: 1973
  • Physical Data
  • Natural Vegetation Area: Yes
    Natural vegetation area: Size: 8 Hectares
  • Landscaped Area: Yes
    Landscaped Area: Size: 4 Hectares
  • Total Area: 18 Hectares
    Latitude: 27.3282256
    Longitude: -82.5397761
    Annual Rainfall: 1400 mm
    Altitude: 2.00 Metres
    Total area of glasshouses: 2300 Metres
  • Additional Locations
  • Satellite Garden Names: Historic Spanish Point

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: Yes
    Herbarium: Number of Specimens: 115000
    Arboretum: No
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: No
    Seed Bank: No
    Published Plant Catalogue: No
    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: 230000
    Number of Volunteers: 600

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 14500
    Cultivation Taxa Num: 5000
  • Special Collections:More than 200 expeditions to the tropics and subtropics have contributed to the MSBG collections of over 12,500 accessions/plantings of living plants, which include some 5000 species in 1200 genera from 214 plant families. These are divided into two main collections, the greenhouse and grounds collections. The greenhouse collection includes over 13,000 accessions in more than 600 genera representing 92 plant families. These are comprised of (using numbers of accessions) 4900 Orchidaceae, 3600 Bromeliaceae, 660 Araceae, 240 Pteridophytes, 250 Gesneriaceae, and 1300 other plants. The grounds collection contains approximately 2300 recorded tropical and subtropical plantings, representing some 1200 species, 620 genera, and 165 plant families.

    One strength of these collections is that a significant portion are well-documented, vouchered species collected from native habitats. Selby Gardens conserves a number of historic orchids and bromeliads from 19th century introductions. The living collection is a scientific resource and also provides source material for the entire gardens, especially the public Tropical Conservatory, as well as to programs of Education.
  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: No
    ABS Policy: Yes
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

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

Research Programmes

  • Conservation - Biology: Yes
    Conservation - Genetics: Yes
    Ecology: Yes
    Exploration: Yes
    Floristics: Yes
    Molecular Genetics: Yes
    Systematics and Taxonomy: Yes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Public Lectures/Talks: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Permanent Public Displays: Yes
    Special Exhibitions: Yes
    Courses for School Children: Yes
    Courses for General Public: Yes
    Education Programme: Yes