The Palm House in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Non Departmental Public Body overview

Formed 1670 (in Holyrood Park)
1820 (moved to current
Inverleith site)
Preceding
agencies
1. the country's first physic
garden, near Holyrood Abbey,
in Holyrood Park
2. a site at the head of the Nor
Loch, now the site of Waverley
Station
3. a site between Edinburgh and
Leith
Type Executive Non Departmental
Public Body
Registered charity (number
SC007983)
Jurisdiction Scottish Government
Headquarters 20a Inverleith Row, Edinburgh,
EH3 5LR
Employees 250
Annual budget 12.3 million (2010-11)
Minister
responsible
Richard Lochhead, Cabinet
Secretary for Rural Affairs and
the Environment
Deputy Minister
responsible
Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for
Environment and Climate
Change
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a
scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and
conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction.
Originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow
medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland
Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore each with its
own specialist collection. The RBGE's living collection
consists of more than 13,302 plant species, (34,422
accessions)
[1]
whilst the herbarium contains in excess of 3
million preserved specimens.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an executive
non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.
The Edinburgh site is the main garden and the headquarters
of the public body, which is led by Regius Keeper, Simon
Milne.
1 History
2 The garden at Edinburgh
2.1 Living collection
2.2 Herbarium
2.3 Library
3 Satellite gardens
3.1 Benmore
3.2 Dawyck
3.3 Logan
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
The Edinburgh botanic garden was founded in 1670 at St.
Anne's Yard, near Holyrood Palace, by Dr. Robert Sibbald
and Dr. Andrew Balfour. It is the second oldest botanic
garden in Britain after Oxford's. The plant collection used as
Coordinates: 555756.17N 31223.98W
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Non
Departmental
Public Body
executive
Simon Milne, Regius Keeper,
Chief Executive Officer and
Accountable Officer
Parent
department
Enterprise, Environment and
Digital Directorates
Child agencies Benmore Botanic Garden,
Argyll
Dawyck Botanic Garden,
Borders
Logan Botanic Garden,
Galloway
Website Official website
(http://www.rbge.org.uk)
Palmhouse Entrance
The newly opened Fernery at
Benmore
the basis of the garden was the private collection of Sir
Patrick Murray, 2nd Lord Elibank, moved from his home at
Livingston Peel in 1672 following his death in September
1671
[2]
In 1763, the garden's collections were moved away
from the city's pollution to a site on the road to Leith, and the
garden moved to its present location at Inverleith in 1820.
The Temperate Palm House, which remains the tallest in
Britain to the present day, was built in 1858.
The botanic garden at Benmore became the first Regional
Garden of the RBGE in 1929. It was followed by the gardens
at Logan and Dawyck in 1969 and 1978.
[3]
The Botanics at Edinburgh is a hugely important player in a
worldwide network of institutions seeking to ensure that
biodiversity is not further eroded. Located one mile from the city centre
they cover approximately 70 acres.
[4]
The RBGE is actively involved in,
and coordinates numerous in situ and ex situ conservation projects both
in the UK and internationally. The three main cross-cutting themes of
scientific work at the RBGE are: Scottish Biodiversity, Plants & Climate
Change, and Conservation.
In addition to the RBGE's scientific activities the garden remains a
popular destination for both tourists and locals. Locally known as "The
Botanics", the garden is a popular place to go for a walk, particularly
with young families. Entrance to the botanic garden is free, although a
small entry charge exists for the glasshouses. During the year the garden
hosts many events including live performances, guided tours and
exhibitions. The RBGE is also an important centre for education,
offering taught courses across all levels.
In 2009, the John Hope Gateway was opened. John Hope was the first
Regius Keeper of RBGE.
Living collection
Nearly 273,000
[1]
individual plants are grown at the Botanics in
Edinburgh or its three smaller satellite gardens (known as Regional
Gardens) located in other parts of Scotland. These represent around 13,300
[1]
different species from all over the
world, or about 4%
[1]
of all known plant species.
The RBGE Living Collection catalogue is available here (http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/bgbase/livcol
/bgbaselivcol.php) and is updated nightly.
Some notable collections at the botanic garden Edinburgh include:
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The avenue of Giant Redwoods at
Benmore
Waterfall in the rock garden stream
Alpine Plants
Chinese Hillside
Cryptogamic Garden
The Glasshouses
Palmhouse
Temperate Palms
Tropical Palms
Orchids and Cycads
Ferns and Fossils
Plants and people (including Giant Water Lily pond)
Temperate lands
Rainforest Riches
Arid Lands
Montane tropical house (including Carnivorous plants)
Wet Tropical House
Peat Walls
The Queen Mother's memorial garden.
Rock Garden
Scottish Heath Garden
Woodland Garden
Herbarium
The RBGE Herbarium (situated in a purpose built facility at the
Edinburgh site) is considered a world-leading botanical collection,
housing in excess of 3 million specimens. Prior to the formation of the Herbarium, plant collections tended to
be the private property of the Regius Keeper. The Herbarium in its present form came with the fusion of the
collections of the University of Edinburgh and the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1839-40. RBGE's
Herbarium moved into its present, purpose-built home in 1964.
Over the years, a large number of collections have been added, belonging to individuals such as R.K. Greville
and John Hutton Balfour, and institutions including the Universities of Glasgow, St Andrews and Hull. The
most important historical collection is that of George Walker Arnott, which came with the University of
Glasgow's foreign herbarium deposited on permanent loan in 1965. This collection contains specimens from all
the major mid-19th century collectors, especially from India, North and South America, and South Africa,
including type material of species described by Hooker & Arnott'. From the early 20th century, collections
have been made by members of staff.
The approx 20% of the Herbarium that has been databased is searchable here. (http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/bgbase
/vherb/bgbasevherb.php)
Library
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RBGE's Library is Scotland's national reference collection for specialist botanical and horticultural resources.
Housing around 70,000 books and 150,000 periodicals the research library is one of the country's largest . It has
been built up to support the specific subject fields researched and taught at RBGE - Garden staff and students
are its main users, along with visiting researchers. However, as a national reference collection, the Library is
also open to members of the public, either in person or by telephone or e-mail.
Benmore
Situated on the West Coast of Scotland, Benmore Botanic Garden experiences a wetter and milder oceanic
climate than the main site in Edinburgh. Benmore grows trees and shrubs from high rainfall areas, especially
conifers and rhododendrons. Highlights of the collection include an avenue of Sequoiadendron and a recently
refurbished Fernery, exhibiting rare ferns from both Britain and abroad.
Dawyck
Situated to the south of the Scottish Border town of Peebles, Dawyck botanic garden is particularly suitable for
hardy plants from the world's cooler, drier areas. Dawyck is also renowned for its high diversity of fungi and
crytogamics.
Logan
Logan, Scotland's most exotic garden, has an almost sub-tropical climate, and provides ideal growing conditions
for southern hemisphere plants.
Gardens in Scotland
List of botanical gardens in the United Kingdom
^
a

b

c

d
Rae D. et al. (2012) Catalogue of Plants 2012. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. ISBN 978-1-906129-87-3. 1.
^ William White (1889). Notes & Queries (http://books.google.ca/books?id=SV4CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA28&
lpg=PA28&dq=patrick+murray,+baron+livingstone&source=bl&ots=pfAoi0vzNw&
sig=YIfs4JgvpXZqmrBky9cvms2QKu4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VTtLUcvvO8ek4APhm4CADg&
ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=patrick%20murray%2C%20baron%20livingstone&f=false). Oxford
University Press.
2.
^ Timeline (http://www.rbge.org.uk/rbge/web/wwd/timeline.jsp) from official RBGE site for this section. 3.
^ [1] (http://www.rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/edinburgh) from official RBGE site for this section. 4.
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Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Royal
Botanic Garden
Edinburgh.
Official website (http://www.rbge.org.uk/)
Edinburgh Botanic Gardens Information
(http://www.roomsinedinburgh.com/attractions/botanic-
gardens.html)
Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (http://www.hotels-edinburgh-scotland-hotels.com/royal-botanic-
gardens/) Independent article with photographs
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Botanic_Garden_Edinburgh&
oldid=599454672"
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