The National Cactus and Succulent Botanical Garden and Research Centre, known as the Cactus Garden, is a 7 acres (2.8 ha)

cactus 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 ...

garden in Sector 5 of Panchkula,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, was established in 1987, and is known for its rare and endangered species of Indian succulent plants.

Collection

The garden was opened in 2004 with 500 plants from the collection of Tarsem Lal, and founded by J S Sarkaria, whose son later lamented the lack of expert care the plants were receiving. It has more than 3,500

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 cactus, many of them endangered, including ''

Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word f ...

s'' (prickly pears and chollas), '' Ferocactus'' (barrels), other succulents include ''

Agaves ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for i ...

'',

columnar 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 ...

, ''

Echinocereus ''Echinocereus'' is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized, cylindrical shaped cacti, comprising about 70 species native to the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny, rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fruit ...

'' (hedgehogs), and '' Mammillarias'' (pincushions) and is the largest of its kind in Asia.

Gallery

File:Garden view of cactus garden.jpg, alt=Garden view of cactus garden from front gate, Garden view of cactus garden File:Long cactus plant at cactus garden.jpg, alt=Long cactus plant at cactus garden, Long cactus plant at cactus garden File:Inauguration stone cactus garden.jpg, alt=Inauguration stone present on cactus garden , Inauguration stone cactus garden File:Plants view on cactus garden.jpg, alt=Plants on cactus garden, Plants views on cactus garden

References

Panchkula Cactus gardens Tourist attractions in Panchkula district {{Garden-stub