Botanical Gardens Rio de Janeiro

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http://www.heygo.com 2nd May - Botanical Gardens Rio de Janeiro

It was founded in 1808 by John, prince regent of the United Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal (later King John VI, for introducing and acclimatizing economically beneficial plants brought from other tropical regions of the world. Originally intended for the acclimatization of spices like nutmeg,pepper and cinnamon imported from the West Indies. The garden was opened to the public in 1822.



The park itself consists of the Botanical Garden, research centers, museum collections, cultural centres. The diversity of plants is extraordinary and is mostly made up of vegetation from the Atlantic forest yet approximately 40%!i(MISSING)s cultivated on site. This unique setup is home to 140 species of birds including the channel-billed toucan and the white-necked hawk. It also boasts wild monkeys and which we spotted several times during our virtual tour.

Beautiful Victoria lilies floating on the Lago Frei Leandro pond were amazing, so too the Japanese Garden and the sensory garden. So much to see in a short time.



The perfectly structured Avenue of Royal Palms was a sight to be seen, a 750 meter path fringed with 134 palms, all of which descended from a single palm.

These King palms were all grown from the seeds of a single tree known as the Palma Mater. It's said the royal family would burn the seeds of this tree so only royality would receive them. Tradition says that slaves working in the gardens would smuggle the seeds out and use the money from the sales of seeds to purchase their freedom.



The royal palms and pau-brasil trees have become the Garden’s symbol, while the Garden is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

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