The Schynige Platte Alpine Garden (german: Alpengarten Schynige Platte) is a

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 an altitude of about , near the summit of the

Schynige Platte mountain The Schynige Platte (''Scheinige Platte'' on the old Siegfried Map) is a small mountain ridge and a viewpoint in the Bernese Highlands and belongs to the Schwarzhorn group. The mountain range consists of three peaks: Gumihorn (), Tuba (), and th ...

in the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...

region of Switzerland. It specialises in research into the high altitude flora of Switzerland, and has a display of over 600 species of plants native to the Swiss Alps. The garden is run by the Schynige Platte Alpine Garden Society, working closely with the Botanical Garden of Bern and the Institute for Plant Sciences at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

. The garden was created in 1928, when an area of over was fenced off, ending centuries of use as

alpine pasture Alpine transhumance is transhumance as practiced in the Alps, that is, a seasonal droving of grazing livestock between the valleys in winter and the high mountain pastures in summer (German ' from the term for "seasonal mountain pasture", '). T ...

, and it was opened to the public the following year. Since 1932, an alpine-botanical course has been held at the gardens, under the direction of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Bern. The garden is accessed directly from the platform of the Schynige Platte station of the

Schynige Platte railway The Schynige Platte Railway (german: Schynige Platte-Bahn, SPB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Highlands area of Switzerland, which connects the town of Wilderswil, near Interlaken with the Schynige Platte Alpine Garden, famous wildflower g ...

, which runs from

Wilderswil Wilderswil is a village and a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Wilderswil belongs to the Small Agglomeration ''Interlaken'' with 23,300 inhabitants (2014). Geography Th ...

, where connection is made with

Bernese Oberland railway The Bernese Oberland Railway (german: Berner Oberland-Bahn, BOB) is a narrow-gauge mountain railway in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It runs, via a "Y" junction at Zweilütschinen to serve Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald from Inter ...

trains from

Interlaken Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss A ...

. Both garden and railway are open from late May to late October, and admission charges are included in the train ticket. A shop run by the garden society at the entrance sells guides to the garden and other related merchandise, and an adjacent exhibition contains information on the

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

of the Schynige Platte. Administratively, the garden is in the municipality of Gündlischwand in the canton of Bern.

References

External links

*
Web site of the garden

Botanical gardens in Switzerland {{switzerland-stub