Katse Botanical Gardens is a centre for Alpine flora in Katse village,
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
.
The gardens were created as a result of plant rescue missions to mitigate the impact of the
Katse Dam
The Katse Dam, a concrete arch dam on the Malibamat'so River in Lesotho, is Africa's second largest double-curvature arch dam. (The Tekezé Dam, completed in early 2009, is now Africa's largest double curvature dam). The dam is part of the Lesot ...
, particularly
spiral aloes.
The collection has a focus on traditional
Sotho Sotho may refer to:
*Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana
* Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...
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 ...
and has a large seed bank.
At an altitude of 2229 meters it claims to be the highest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere.
[
]
See also
* 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 ...
* Treborth Botanic Garden, twinned with Katse Botanical Gardens
References
{{reflist
External links
UNEP Dams and Development Project
Environment of Lesotho
Botanical gardens in Lesotho