Lloyd's Botanical Garden, or Darjeeling Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden in Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal.

History

Lloyd's Botanical Garden was established in 1878 when of land was acquired at Darjeeling to form a botanic garden as a distant annexe of the

Calcutta Botanical Garden The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, previously known as Indian Botanic Garden and the Calcutta Botanic Garden, is situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. They are commonly known as the Calcutta Botanical Garden and previ ...

. The land was provided by William Lloyd, in whose name the botanical garden has been named.

Location

The Garden is situated just below the Eden Sanatorium in an open slope covering an area of about , bound by Cart Road and Victoria Road on the North, by Jail Road and Hari Ghose Road on the south, by Eden sanatorium on the east and Victoria Road on the west. This Garden is one of the main attractions to the visitors to Darjeeling with a treasury of many rare and beautiful plants as well as patches of typical forest of tall Cryptomeria, Bucklandia and Alnus with thick mass of lianas and shrubby undergrowth. It is a favorite spot of recreation with vistas across some of the loveliest slopes, a paradise to the students and research workers in Botany and an eminent institution distributing the plants and seeds and specimens of temperate and sub-temperate Himalayas to different parts of the world.

Approach

The botanical garden has four gates. Gate No:1 ( Iron Gate or Loachnagar gate) is approachable from the taxi stand. The road is very steep but shorter than the other approaches. Vehicles can reach this gate, but there is no parking facility. Gate No:2 (Staff gate) can be approached from the Sadar Police Station. This path is through the settlements and is narrow and can be reached on foot only. The road will lead to the staff quarters and a flight of stairs will lead to Gate No:2.Approaching Gate No:2 on foot is comparatively easier than reaching other gates on foot. Gate No:3 (Chandmari gate) can be reached through Haro Ghose road which passes through the bazaar. Vehicles can reach this gate, but no parking is available. Gate No:4 (Victoria gate) is on the Victoria road and provides entry for visitors entering from the Western side.

Collections

The Darjeeling Botanical Garden preserves several species of bamboo, oak, magnolia, arisaema, cotoneaster,

wild geranium ''Geranium maculatum'', the wild geranium, spotted geranium, or wood geranium, is a perennial plant native to woodland in eastern North America, from southern Manitoba and southwestern Quebec south to Alabama and Georgia and west to Oklahoma an ...

, and

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

— forest native plants of the

Darjeeling Himalayan hill region Darjeeling Himalayan hill region or Darjeeling Himalaya is the mountainous area on the north-western side of the state of West Bengal in India. This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range. The Darjeeling district except the Siliguri subdiv ...

, Sikkim region, and other neighbouring regions. Also, several exotic plants are preserved. The

Cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and

Succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

collection of 150 species is displayed in the Conservatory. The collection of native Orchids from the Singalila Ridge in present-day Singalila National Park is rare and notable. The Indian Botanical Garden Network's Garden code ascribed for this garden is WB-DBG.

Orchids

References

Places of Interest in Darjeeling
', Darjeelingnews.net. URL accessed on 8 May 2006.

External links

Indian Botanic Gardens NetworkAbout Lloyd's Botanical Garden
{{coord, 27.0446, 88.2629, type:landmark_region:IN, display=title Tourist attractions in Darjeeling Botanical gardens in India Protected areas of West Bengal 1878 establishments in India Protected areas established in the 1870s