Nikita Botanical Garden (russian: Никитский ботанический сад, ua, Нікітський ботанічний сад) is one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe. It is located in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

, close to

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

, by the shores of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. It was founded in 1812 and named after the settlement Nikita in Crimea,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. Its founder and first director was Russian botanist Christian Steven of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

descent. The garden and its collections were greatly expanded by the Livonian Nicolai Anders von Hartwiss, director 1827–1860. The total area is 11 square kilometres. It is a scientific research centre, a producer of

sapling 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 seeds, and a tourist attraction. The garden was the part of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences. It has subsidiaries in Crimea and

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

. Its collection counts over 50,000 species, sorts and hybrides. Its scientific work consists in study of natural

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

, collection of

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

fund, selection and introduction of new agricultural plants for south

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, and other countries.

Gallery

Image:CSteven.jpg, Monument to Christian von Steven. File:Nikita, Crimea, White rose, The fall of romantic simplicity.jpg, White roses. File:Nikita, Crimea, Flower 2.jpg File:Nikita, Crimea, A joy forever.jpg, Lilies. File:Nikita, Crimea, Cactuses, Cacti.jpg, Cacti. File:Nikita, Crimea, Plants, A joy forever.jpg, Succulents. Botanical gardens in Ukraine Protected areas of Ukraine Botanical research institutes Research institutes in Ukraine Research institutes in the Soviet Union Tourist attractions in Crimea Biota of Crimea Buildings and structures in Yalta {{garden-stub