The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest
botanic 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 ...
in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a
physic garden
A physic garden is a type of herb garden with medicinal plants. Botanical gardens developed from them.
History
Modern botanical gardens were preceded by medieval physic gardens, often monastic gardens, that existed by 800 at least. Gardens of ...
growing plants for medicinal research. Today it contains over 5,000 different plant
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 ...
on . It is one of the most diverse yet compact
collections
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collection ...
of plants in the world and includes representatives from over 90% of the
higher plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They a ...
families.
Professor Simon Hiscock became Director of Oxford Botanic Garden in 2015.
History
Foundation
In 1621,
Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby
Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, KG (28 June 1573 – 20 January 1643/4) was an English soldier. Outlawed after a killing, he regained favour and became a Knight of the Garter.
Life
He was the second son of Sir John Danvers, Knt., of Daunts ...
, contributed £5,000 (in excess of £5,000,000 in 2018) to set up a physic garden for "the glorification of the works of God and for the furtherance of learning". He chose a site on the banks of the
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire.
The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...
at the northeast corner of
Christ Church Meadow, belonging to
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
. Part of the land had been a
Jewish cemetery until the
Jews were expelled from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(and the rest of England) in 1290. Four thousand cartloads of "mucke and dunge" were needed to raise the land above the
flood-plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire.
The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...
.
Catalogue
Humphry Sibthorp began the catalogue of the plants of the garden, ''Catalogus Plantarum Horti Botanici Oxoniensis''. His youngest son was the botanist
John Sibthorp
John Sibthorp (28 October 1758 – 8 February 1796) was an England, English botanist.
Education
Sibthorp graduated from the University of Oxford in 1777 where he was an undergraduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He subsequently stud ...
(1758–1796), who continued the ''Catalogus Plantarum''.
Layout
![Magdalen College from the Botanic Gardens Rose Garden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Magdalen_College_from_the_Botanic_Gardens_Rose_Garden.jpg)
The Garden comprises three sections:
* the Walled Garden, surrounded by the original seventeenth-century stonework and home to the Garden's oldest tree; an English
yew, ''Taxus baccata''
* the Glasshouses, which allow the cultivation of plants needing protection from the extremes of British weather
* the Lower garden
* the area between the Walled Garden and the River Cherwell
A satellite site, the
Harcourt Arboretum
Harcourt Arboretum is an arboretum owned and run by the University of Oxford. It is a satellite of the university's botanic garden in the city of Oxford, England. The arboretum itself is located south of Oxford on the A4074 road, near the vill ...
, is located south of Oxford.
The Danby Gate
![Botanic gate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Botanic_gate.jpg)
The Danby Gate at the front entrance to the Botanic Garden is one of three entrances designed by
Nicholas Stone
Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an English sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I, and in 1626 to Charles I.
During his career he was the mason responsible for not only the building of ...
between 1632 and 1633. It is one of the earliest structures in Oxford to use classical, indeed early
Baroque, style, preceding his new entrance porch for the
University Church of St Mary the Virgin
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of u ...
of 1637, and contemporary with the Canterbury Quad at
St John's College by others. In this highly ornate arch, Stone ignored the new simple classical
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
style then in fashion, which had been introduced to England from Italy by
Inigo Jones, and drew his inspiration from an illustration in
Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treat ...
's book of archways.
The gateway consists of three bays, each with a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
. The largest and central bay, containing the segmented arch is recessed, causing its larger pediment to be partially hidden by the flanking smaller pediments of the projecting lateral bays.
The stone work is heavily decorated being bands of alternating vermiculated
rustication and plain dressed stone. The pediments of the lateral bays are seemingly supported by circular columns which frame niches containing statues of Charles I and Charles II in classical pose. The
tympanum of the central pediment contains a segmented niche containing a bust of the Earl of Danby. It is a Grade I listed structure (ref. 1485/423). The gate was shot at during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. It previously held a statue of Charles I and one other (probably the Queen) as Charles II was only three years old when the gateway was built. The restoration dates from around 1653 and portrays both the late Charles ! and the then current king, Charles II. It wa sculpted by
William Bird of Oxford.
Walled garden
![An obscured Magdalen Great Tower from the Botanic Gardens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/An_obscured_Magdalen_Great_Tower_from_the_Botanic_Gardens.jpg)
*Botanical Family beds
The core collection of hardy plants are grouped in long, narrow, oblong beds by botanical family and ordered according to the
classification system devised by nineteenth century
botanists,
Bentham and
Hooker. The families represented in the Walled Garden include:
Acanthaceae
Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in tem ...
,
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...
,
Amaryllidaceae,
Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ...
,
Araceae
The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). A ...
,
Aristolochiaceae
The Aristolochiaceae () are a family, the birthwort family, of flowering plants with seven genera and about 400 known species belonging to the order Piperales. The type genus is ''Aristolochia'' L.
Description
They are mostly perennial, he ...
,
Berberidaceae
The Berberidaceae are a family of 18 genera of flowering plants commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order Ranunculales. The family contains about 700 known species, of which the majority are in ''Berberis''. The species ...
,
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the or ...
,
Campanulaceae
The family Campanulaceae (also bellflower family), of the order Asterales, contains nearly 2400 species in 84 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky sap. Among them are several familiar garden plants belo ...
,
Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...
,
Chenopodiaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus '' Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making i ...
,
Cistaceae
The Cistaceae are a small family of plants (rock-rose or rock rose family) known for their beautiful shrubs, which are profusely covered by flowers at the time of blossom. This family consists of about 170(-200) species in nine genera that are ...
,
Commelinaceae
Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 kno ...
,
Compositae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...
,
Convolvulaceae
Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweeds or morning glories, is a family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, shrubs and herbs. The tubers of several spe ...
,
Crassulaceae
The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crass ...
,
Cruciferae
Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...
,
Cyperaceae,
Dioscoreaceae
Dioscoreaceae () is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants, with about 715 known species in nine genera. The best-known member of the family is the yam (some species of ''Dioscorea'').
The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) both ...
,
Dipsacaceae
The Dipsacaceae have been recognized as a family (the teasel family) of the order Dipsacales containing 350 species of perennial or biennial herbs and shrubs in eleven genera. The species are currently placed in the family Caprifoliaceae. Native ...
,
Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...
,
Gentianaceae
Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species.
Etymology
The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius.
Distribution
Distribution is cosmopolitan.
Characteri ...
,
Geraniaceae
Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus ''Geranium''. The family includes both the genus ''Geranium'' (the cranesbills, or true geraniums) and the garden plants called ...
,
Gramineae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...
,
Hypericaceae
Hypericaceae is a plant family in the order Malpighiales, comprising six to nine genera and up to 700 species, and commonly known as the St. John's wort family. Members are found throughout the world apart from extremely cold or dry habitats. '' ...
,
Iridaceae
Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...
,
Juncaceae
Juncaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the rush family. It consists of 8 genera and about 464 known species of slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous monocotyledonous plants that may superficially resemble grasses and s ...
,
Labiatae
The Lamiaceae ( )
or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
,
Leguminosae,
Liliaceae
The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fair a ...
,
Linaceae
Linaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family is cosmopolitan, and includes about 250 species in 14 genera, classified into two subfamilies: the Linoideae and Hugonioideae (often recognized as a distinct family, the Hugoniaceae). Leaves of ...
,
Loasaceae
Loasaceae is a family of 15–20 genera and about 200–260 species of flowering plants in the order Cornales, native to the Americas and Africa. Members of the family include annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants, and a few shrubs ...
,
Lythraceae,
Malvaceae
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...
,
Onagraceae
The Onagraceae are a family of flowering plants known as the willowherb family or evening primrose family. They include about 650 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees[Paeoniaceae
The peony or paeony is a flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'' , the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae . Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished, ...]
,
Papaveraceae
The Papaveraceae are an economically important family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales, informally known as the poppy family. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in temperat ...
,
Phytolaccaceae
Phytolaccaceae is a family of flowering plants. Though almost universally recognized by taxonomists, its circumscription has varied. It is also known as the Pokeweed family.
The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), a ...
,
Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...
,
Plumbaginaceae
Plumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family.
Most species in this family are perennial herbaceous plants, but a few grow ...
,
Polemoniaceae
The Polemoniaceae (Jacob's-ladder or phlox family) are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 25 genera with 270–400 species of annuals and perennials native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversit ...
,
Polygonaceae
The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus '' Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1 ...
,
Portulacaceae
The Portulacaceae are a family of flowering plants, comprising 115 species in a single genus '' Portulaca''. Formerly some 20 genera with about 500 species, were placed there, but it is now restricted to encompass only one genus, the other genera ...
,
Primulaceae
The Primulaceae , commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the evening primrose family), are a family of herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden plants and wildflowers. Most are perennial though som ...
,
Ranunculaceae
Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide.
The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...
,
Rosaceae,
Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...
,
Rutaceae
The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rue[RUTACEAE](_blank)
in BoDD – Botanical Der ...
,
Saxifragaceae
Saxifragaceae is a family of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The fa ...
,
Solanaceae,
Umbelliferae
Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...
,
Urticaceae
The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeri ...
,
Verbenaceae
The Verbenaceae ( ), the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs, and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell.
The ...
,
Violaceae
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus ''Viola'', the violets and pansies.
Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed t ...
.
In 1983,
The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) chose Oxford Botanic Garden to cultivate the national collection of
euphorbia
''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...
. One of the
rarest plants in the collection is ''
Euphorbia stygiana'', with only ten plants left existing in the wild. The Garden is propagating the species as quickly as possible to reduce the possibility of it becoming extinct.
*Medicinal beds
The South West corner of the Botanic Garden is home to a modern medicinal plant collection. Here you will find 8 beds, each growing plants with a connection to medicine used to treat a particular type of disease or illness. There are beds for
* Cardiology (heart complaints)
* Oncology (cancer and cell-proliferation)
* Infectious Diseases (viral and parasitic)
* Gastreoenterology (alimentary tract and metabolism)
* Dermatology (skin complaints)
* Haematology (blood typing and disorders)
* Neurology (nervous system and anaesthesia)
* Pulmonology (lungs and airways)
The plants growing in these beds contain many different natural products and fall into at least one of the following three categories:
* Directly suitable for use as a drug
* Synthetic modification provides a clinically suitable drug
* Starting point for a drug discovery programme
*Bearded irises
One bed in the northwest corner of the garden contains a display of
bearded irises each May. Examples include ''Iris'' 'Eileen' and ''Iris'' 'Golden Encore'. Some of the varieties grown in the Garden are not grown anywhere else.
![The Botanic Gardens glass houses by the Isis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/The_Botanic_Gardens_glass_houses_by_the_Isis.JPG)
*Wall borders
The borders along the foot of the wall contain collections that thrive in the
microclimate
A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
, many of these plant collections are grouped by their
geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
origin. The
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
collection at the north border includes ''Euphorbia myrsinites''. The South American collection at the north border includes ''Feijoa sellowiana'' (syn. ''Acca sellowiana''). The South African collection at the northeast border includes ''Kniphofia caulescens''.
Other wall borders contain plants from
Biodiversity hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the c ...
s including Japan and New Zealand. Such areas hold high numbers of
Endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
plant species, yet face substantial threat to their natural vegetation. Over 50% of the world's plant species are contained within these hotspots which collectively cover only 2.3% of the Earth's land surface.
Glasshouses
*Conservatory
The house is an aluminium replica of the original 1893
wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
house and grows seasonal flowers such as
primula
''Primula'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the primrose ('' P. vulgaris''), a familiar wildflower of banks and verges. Other common species are '' P. auricula'' (auricula), '' P. veris'' (cow ...
s,
abutilons,
fuchsia
''Fuchsia'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, ''Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) ...
s, and
achimenes
''Achimenes'' is a genus of about 25 species of tropical and subtropical rhizomatous perennial herbs in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. They have a multitude of common names such as magic flowers, widow's tears, Cupid's bower, or hot wat ...
. Various exhibitions which change throughout the year are displayed in the centre area.
![Alice-queen-hearts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Alice-queen-hearts.jpg)
*Alpine House
Plants which cannot grow to their full potential outside are displayed in this house. The displays are changed regularly so that there is always something in flower.
*Fernery
A collection of
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...
s from around the world are housed here including ''Platycerium bifurcatum'' (
stag's horn fern), ''Lygodium japonicum'' (a
climbing fern), and ''
Trichomanes speciosum'' (a
filmy fern
The Hymenophyllaceae, the filmy ferns and bristle ferns, are a family of two to nine genera (depending on classification system) and about 650 known species of ferns, with a cosmopolitan distribution, subcosmopolitan distribution, but generally r ...
native to western Britain).
*Tropical Lily House
The tank in the lily house built in 1851 by Professor
Charles Daubeny, Keeper of the Garden at the time, is the oldest existing part of the glasshouses. Tropical
water lilies
''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...
grow in boxes in the tank, including the hybrid ''Nymphaea × daubenyana'' named in honour of Professor Daubeny in 1874. Also growing in the house are economic plants including bananas,
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
, and rice, and the papyrus reed, ''
Cyperus papyrus'', a native of river banks in the Middle East. Flowering high in the glasshouse is the yellow-flowered ''
Allamanda cathartica''.
* Insectivorous House
This house grows a collection of
Carnivorous plants. Carnivory has evolved several times in plants and this collection displays many of the mechanisms required to trap insect prey. Some traps are passive, such as the sticky flypaper of the genus ''
Pinguicula
''Pinguicula'', commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition ...
'' whereas others like the
Venus flytrap
The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping ...
, ''Dionaea muscipula'', actually move and are triggered by the unlucky insect walking across the surface.
*Palm House
The largest glasshouse in the Garden, this house grows
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
s and a large number of economic plants including
citrus fruit
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
s,
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
,
sweet potato,
pawpaw,
olive, coffee,
ginger,
coconut,
cocoa, cotton, and
oil palm
''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm '' Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its c ...
. There is a collection of
cycad
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...
s which look like palms but are unrelated. Several important teaching collections present include the Acanthaceae including the
shrimp plant ''Justicia brandegeana'', the
Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), wi ...
, and a large number of ''
Begonia
''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown ind ...
'' species.
*Arid House
Plants in this house come from arid areas of the world and demonstrate ways in which plant forms economise the use of water. Many different species of
Cacti and
Succulent plants are found here demonstrating all of their various tactics to reduce water loss to their hostile environments.
Outside the walled garden
![Oxford Botanic Garden, Meadow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Oxford_Botanic_Garden%2C_Meadow.jpg)
*Rock Garden
*Bog Garden
*Herbaceous Border
First laid out in 1946, this planting is a classic example of the traditional English herbaceous border. Unlike other areas of the Garden, this border relies entirely on herbaceous perennials. These die back to a rootstock each winter before bursting back into life again in spring and flowering through the summer. The planting is designed to provide interest from April to October. The display begins with tulips in a range of colours, followed by early, mid-season and late flowering perennials. The plants are arranged in layers, with the smaller plants positioned at the front of the border and the taller plants toward the back. Occasionally we allow a few of the larger plants to make their way to the front to break up the formality.
*Autumn Border
*Glasshouse Borders
*Merton Borders
Designed in collaboration with Professor James Hitchmough from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield
At 955m
2 these borders form the largest single cultivated area in the Botanic Garden. They are an example of sustainable horticultural development, with minimal impact on the environment in the long term.
The plants have been selected for their ability to withstand drought conditions and originate from seasonally dry grassland communities in three regions of the world:
* The Central to Southern Great Plains (USA) through to the Colorado Plateau and into California
* East South Africa at latitudes above 1000m
* Southern Europe to Turkey and across Asia to Siberia
In literature
![Lyra+Will](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Lyra%2BWill.jpg)
The Garden was the site of frequent visits in the 1860s by the
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
mathematics professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...
) and the Liddell children,
Alice and her sisters. Like many of the places and people of Oxford, it was a source of inspiration for Carroll's stories in ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
''. The Garden's waterlily house can be seen in the background of Sir
John Tenniel
Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914)Johnson, Lewis (2003), "Tenniel, John", ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Web. Retrieved 12 December 2016. was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and poli ...
's illustration of "The Queen's Croquet-Ground".
Another Oxford professor and author,
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
, often spent his time at the garden reposing under his favourite tree, ''
Pinus nigra''. The enormous Austrian pine was much like the
Ents of his ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...
'' story, the walking, talking tree-people of
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...
. However, the tree was removed in 2014 after two limbs fell, posing a security risk for the visitors.
In the
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
novel ''
Brideshead Revisited
''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...
'', Lord Sebastian Flyte takes Charles Ryder "to see the ivy" soon after they first meet. As he says, "Oh, Charles, what a lot you have to learn! There's a beautiful arch there and more different kinds of ivy than I knew existed. I don't know where I should be without the Botanical gardens" (Chapter One).
In
Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and '' The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''T ...
's trilogy of novels ''
His Dark Materials
''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...
'', a bench in the back of the garden is one of the locations/objects that stand parallel in the two different worlds that the protagonists,
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua (), also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. In ''His Dark Materials'' Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. Brought up in the cloistered world ...
and
Will Parry, inhabit. In the last chapter of the trilogy, both promised to sit on the bench for an hour at noon on
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...
's day every year so that perhaps they may feel each other's presence next to one another in their own worlds. Now a place of pilgrimage for Pullman's fans, the bench is recognizable due to graffiti such as "Lyra + Will" or "L + W" left by its visitors and, since 2019, the sculpture by Julian Warren installed behind it.
See also
*
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
The Department of Plant Sciences, at the University of Oxford, England, was a former Oxford department that researched Plant biology, plant and Fungus, fungal biology. It was part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Div ...
*
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies between Trumpington Road to the west, Bateman Street to ...
Notes
References
*
Colvin, Howard, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'' 3rd ed. (
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
) 1995, ''s.v.'' "Stone, Nicholas"
*
External links
Official websiteVirtual tour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botanic Garden, University of Oxford
1621 establishments in England
Oxford Botanic Garden
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it cont ...
Oxford Botanic Garden
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it cont ...
Culture of the University of Oxford
Departments of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford sites
History of the University of Oxford
Parks and open spaces in Oxford
Tourist attractions in Oxford
Grade I listed buildings in Oxford