The Porto Alegre Botanical Garden is a Foundation of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

located on the street Salvador França, in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

, Brazil.

History

The project for a botanical garden in

dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, when Dom Joao VI, after creating the

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden or Jardim Botânico is located at the Jardim Botânico district in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The Botanical Garden shows the diversity of Brazilian and foreign flora. There are around 6,500 species (so ...

, sent seedlings to

to establish another similar park in the city. Unfortunately these seedlings did not come to the capital, remaining trapped in

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, where they were planted. The agriculturist Paul Schoenwald subsequently donated a plot of land to the state government to establish a green area, but the project was unsuccessful. A third attempt would be made in 1882, when councilman Francisco Pinto de Souza presented a proposal for scientific exploitation of the area then known as the ''Várzea de Petrópolis'', providing a garden and a promenade. Considered utopian, the plan was terminated and lay dormant for decades, only returning to consideration in the mid-20th century. In 1953 the 2136 law authorized the selling of an area of ''81.57 hectares'', of which ''50 hectares'' would be to create a park or botanical garden. A committee, which included prominent teacher and religious figure ''Teodoro Luís'', was formed to develop the project, which began in 1957 with the first planting of selected species: a collection of palm trees, conifers and succulent. When opened to the public on September 10, 1958, it already featured nearly 600 species. Soon after, in 1962, was inaugurated the oven for cacti, in the 1970s and the botanical garden was integrated into Fundação Zoobotânica Foundation, along with the Park Zoo and the Museum of Natural Sciences. This season began the collection of trees, with emphasis on families of ecological importance (Myrtaceae, Rutaceae, Myrsinaceae, Bignoniaceae, Fabales, Zingiberales, among others), thematic groups (condiments and scented) and forest formations typical of the state, and is launched a program for expeditions to collect specimens and seeds. A project linked to the Program ''Pro-Guaíba'' allowed in the 1990s an improvement in the infrastructure of the Botanical Garden, where nurseries were built for

bromeliads The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

, orchids, succulent, vines and

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 reforms have taken place in the center of visitors and the administration, beyond the creation of a seed bank.

Paleontology

At the Museum of Natural Sciences, which is located inside the Porto Alegre Botanical Garden, there is an exhibition of

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

found in

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

of paleorrota, as well as contributing to publications on the subject.

References

External links

Official Page
{{authority control Botanical gardens in Brazil Gardens in Porto Alegre Botanical research institutes Research institutes in Brazil

History

Paleontology

See also

References

External links