The Botanical Garden

Botanical gardens of Kolkata, India are situated 8 kms away from the city, on the west bank of the Ganga, covering an area of about 273 acres. Laid out in the year 1787, Calcutta botanical garden is one of the oldest and largest botanical gardens of India. It contains about 12,000 living perennial plants and millions of dried out plants gathered from world over. Over here, you can find a plethora of beautiful orchids and other colorful flowers. The garden also has a library, where you can find a valuable collection of books on botany. The botanical garden of Calcutta houses trees of rarest variety.

The gardens were originally founded in 1786 by Colonel Kyd, containing about 12,000 living plants and over two and half million dried out plant specimens in the herbarium collected from all over the world. This is the oldest of all the Botanical Gardens in India. It was from these gardens that the tea now grown in Assam and Darjeeling was first developed. Trees of the rarest kinds, from Nepal, Brazil, Penang, Java and Sumatra can be found here. There are towering Mahogany trees, an avenue of Cuban Palms and an Orchid House. Mango and Tamarind trees shade the grassy lawns. Col. Alexander Kyd of the East India Company developed it for the collection of plants, indigenous to the country and for the introduction and acclimatization of plants from foreign parts. It remains opened from sunrise to sunset.

The main attraction of the botanical gardens is the giant size banyan tree that is said to have the second largest canopy in the world. The 250 year old Banyan tree, it is said that the tree has spread its area so much that it is difficult to say which one is the original trunk. The circumference of the tree is around 400 meter.

This ethereal ambience is ideal for fun, fiesta and frolics. There is a serpentine lake where boat-ing is possible.

The horticulture gardens in the heart of the city is a famous avenue for the flower and other exhibitions. It is particularly famed for the display of seasonal flowers.

Source: Wikipedia

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