The National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens ( my, ကန်တော်ကြီး အမျိုးသား ရုက္ခဗေဒ ဥယျာဉ်; formerly National Botanical Gardens) is a 177 hectare

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 in the

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

town of

Pyin U Lwin Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...

(formerly Maymyo),

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, situated at an elevation of 1000 metres (3,605 ft) and by road from

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

. The current official name is National Kandawgyi Garden.

History

It was first established in 1915 as the Maymyo Botanical Gardens by Alex Roger, a Forest Officer. The original site was , and was modelled after the

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with the help of an amateur gardener, botanical collector and expedition organiser called Lady Cuffe. In 1917, the government granted it official recognition, and in 1924, the site was declared a Government Botanical Reserve. On 1 December 1942, the Ministry of Forestry designated the Botanical Gardens a "

protected forest A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

area". On 1 December 2000, Sr Gen

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During this ...

renamed it "Kandawgyi National Gardens". It has been used to promote extensive

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

in Burma.

Flora and fauna

The Botanical Gardens has 514 species of indigenous

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and 74 foreign species, 75 species of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

, and 75 species of crotons. Of the 300 species of indigenous orchids, 178 were already collected in 1942. There are 25

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

species, and 6 land lily species.

Medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

for traditional medicines are also grown. The National Botanical Gardens is managed by the

Ministry of Forestry The Ministry of Forestry (russian: Министерство лесного хозяйства СССР) was a government ministry in the Soviet Union in charge of the protection and management of forest resources. History On 2 July 1936, the Main ...

. Forty two acres of the site are a protected forest area. The gardens are popular among tourists, who enjoy the rolling lawns and Alpine landscape reminiscent of those in England. Endangered wild animals are also kept in the National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens, including Eld's deer,

Burmese star tortoise The Burmese star tortoise (''Geochelone platynota'') is a critically endangered tortoise species, native to the dry, deciduous forests of Myanmar (Burma). It is close to extinction in Myanmar, as it is eaten by the native Burmese. Description ...

, takin, hog deer, but there are also pheasant and water fowl. It has collaborated with the UK based

Botanic Gardens Conservation International Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a plant conservation biology, conservation Charitable organization, charity based in Kew, Surrey, England. It is a membership organisation, working with 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, who ...

(BGCI) to conserve the indigenous orchids in their natural habitat. The Botanical Gardens has three museums. The Fossils Museum houses fossils of mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates, and the Petrified Wood Museum displays fossils of plants, colorful stones, toddy-palm roots, as well as things made from fossils of plants. The Butterfly Museum has various species of butterflies from Nepal, Taiwan, South America, Japan and South East Asia.

Special events

Celebrations of the Gardens'

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

were held from 14 December 2006 to 13 January 2007. Kandawgyi has expanded in recent years and reached its current size in 2000. An annual flower festival has been held in December since 2006. The 5 day event this year had over 7 million flowers of 16 local and over 70 foreign species on display. Number of visitors has averaged 400,000 since it was reopened in 2001.

Gallery

File:Pyinoolwin -- Botanical Gardens 1.JPG, File:Pyinoolwin -- Botanical Gardens 2.JPG, File:Pyinoolwin -- Botanical Gardens 3.JPG, File:Pyinoolwin -- Botanical Gardens 4.JPG,

References

External links

{{National parks of Burma Botanical gardens in Myanmar Burmese culture Protected areas established in 1915