The Conservatoire botanique national de Brest (32 hectares) is a notable

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

located at 52 Allée du Bot,

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

, in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is open daily without charge. The conservatory site was formerly a

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

and rubbish dump, purchased in 1971 by the municipality to create open space. The conservatory itself was founded in 1977 with a primary mission of preserving

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

from the

Armorican Massif The Armorican Massif (french: Massif armoricain, ) is a geologic massif that covers a large area in the northwest of France, including Brittany, the western part of Normandy and the Pays de la Loire. It is important because it is connected to Do ...

(including parts of

, Basse-Normandie and

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and islands around the world, but also including plants from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Since 1990 it has been designated a National Botanical Conservation Center to protect endangered and protected plants of the Armorican Massif. Today the conservatory contains a remarkable collection of endangered plants, totaling about 1700

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, of which 20 species have been preserved in large part by the conservatory's actions. These very rare plants include ''

Brighamia insignis ''Brighamia insignis'', commonly known as ''ʻŌlulu'' or ''Alula'' in Hawaiian, or colloquially as the vulcan palm or cabbage on a stick, is a endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae. It is native to t ...

'', ''

Centaurium favargeri ''Centaurium'' (centaury) is a genus of 20 species in the gentian family (Gentianaceae), tribe Chironieae, subtribe Chironiinae. The genus was named after the centaur Chiron, famed in Greek mythology for his skill in medicinal herbs. It is dist ...

'', ''

Cheirolophus massonianus ''Cheirolophus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae first described as a genus in 1827. The genus is native to the western Mediterranean (Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Malta, Canary Islands The Can ...

'', ''

Cylindrocline lorencei ''Cylindrocline lorencei'' is a small tree that was native to the island of Mauritius, with only one specimen ever observed in the wild. By 1990 the species was considered extinct, and the only available seed could not be germinated. Brest Bota ...

'', ''

Dombeya cacuminum ''Dombeya'' is a flowering plant genus. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. These plants are known by a number of vernacular names which sometim ...

'', ''

Hibiscus insularis ''Hibiscus insularis'', the Phillip Island hibiscus, is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae, that is endemic to Phillip Island, a small island to the south of Norfolk Island, Australia. The entire natural extent of this ...

'', ''

Hibiscus liliiflorus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

'', ''

Impatiens thomassetii ''Impatiens'' is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus '' Hydrocera'' (one species), ''Impatiens'' make up the family Balsaminacea ...

'', ''

Limonium humile ''Limonium humile'' is a species of sea lavender known by the common name lax-flowered sea-lavender. References humile Taxa named by Philip Miller {{Caryophyllales-stub ...

'', ''

Normania triphylla Normania may refer to: Places * Normania, Minnesota, unincorporated community, United States *Normania Township, Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota, United States * Normania Township, Benson County, North Dakota, United States Plants *''Solanum'', ...

'', ''

Ruizia cordata ''Ruizia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae, containing the single species ''Ruizia cordata''. Its native range is Réunion."''Ruizia'' Can." Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 19 August 202 ...

'', and ''

Trochetia boutoniana ''Trochetia boutoniana'' also known by its native Creole name boucle d'oreille is a shrub from the genus ''Trochetia'' endemic to Mauritius. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG ...

''. Additional specimens of interest include ''

Amorphophallus titanum ''Amorphophallus'' (from Ancient Greek , "without form, misshapen" + ''phallos'', "penis", referring to the shape of the prominent spadix) is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the ''Arum'' family ...

'', '' Asparagus fallax'', '' Astrophytum myriostigma'', ''

Angraecum sesquipedale ''Angraecum sesquipedale'' , also known as Darwin's orchid, Christmas orchid, Star of Bethlehem orchid, and king of the angraecums, is an epiphytic orchid in the genus ''Angraecum'' endemic to Madagascar. The orchid was first discovered by the Fre ...

'', '' Commelina rupicola'', ''

Geranium maderense ''Geranium maderense'', known as giant herb-Robert or the Madeira cranesbill, is a species of flowering plant in the family Geraniaceae, native to the island of Madeira. It is sometimes confused with another Madeira endemic, '' Geranium palmatum ...

'', ''Hibiscus storckii'' ( ''H. rosa-sinensis''), '' Lavandula pinnata'', '' Limonium dendroides'', '' Monizia edulis'', ''

Pachypodium rosulatum ''Pachypodium rosulatum'', common name elephant's foot plant, belongs to the family Apocynaceae. Description ''Pachypodium rosulatum'' is a shrubby perennial caudiciform plant with a bottle-shaped trunk, brownish silver and almost spineless, ab ...

'', '' Pelargonium cotyledonis'', ''

Tolpis glabrescens ''Tolpis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It is native to Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East and Macaronesia. Many species are limited to the Canary Islands. ; SpeciesCrawford, D. J., et ...

'', ''

Tournefortia bojeri ''Tournefortia'', commonly known as soldierbush, is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It was first published under the name ''Pittonia'' by Charles Plumier in 1703, in honour of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. Later, ...

'', and '' Turbina inopinata''. The conservatory includes

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

s (1000 m² total area), containing over 200

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

of which 95% are endangered, which are subdivided into four sections: tropical mountains, dry tropics, humid tropical forests, and subtropical ocean islands. It also contains a herbarium (about 5,000 specimens) and cold storage rooms for packs of seeds.

References

Conservatoire botanique national de Brest

BGCI entry

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Brest, France Brest, Conservatoire botanique national de Brest, Conservatoire botanique national de Greenhouses in France

See also

References