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Botanical
Garden
HMG,
Nepal
Ministry
of Forests & Soil Conservation
Department of Plant Resources
ROYAL
BOTANICAL GARDEN
GPO
Box: 3708, Godawari, Lalitpur, Nepal
Tel
: 560546, 560779, Fax : 977-1-560549
E-mail:
rbg@wlink.com.np
2001
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| Introduction |
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The
Royal Botanical Garden is located in the base
of Mount Phulchoki (2715m.) at Godawari
(1515m.) at the south east corner of Kathmandu
valley. The area of the Garden is 82 hectare.
It is surrounded by evergreen natural forests.
The temperature ranges between 20°C and 30°C
during summer and -5°C to 20°C during
winter. This Garden was graciously inaugurated
by His
Majesty the King Late Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah
Dev on the 20th October 1962.
Ever
since its establishment much of its activities
have been centered in enriching the garden
with indigenous plants as to integrate its
collection with scientific investigation,
conservation, education and demonstration. |
| Activities |
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3.
Ex-situ
and in-situ
conservation including rare, endemic
as well as indigenous plants.
4.
Education on conserved plants,
its classification and use by
demonstration.
5.
Dissemination of information on
Nepalese plant resources to create
awareness.
6.
The development of technology
for the propagation methods of plants
of commercial value.
7.
Production and sale of
indigenous as well as exotic
ornamental plants, seedlings, cut
flowers etc.
8.
Developing a recreation spot
for naturalists. |
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The
inaugural event of the garden is engraved on a
white marble slab which is elevated to 1.5m.
on a couple of marble pillars. This piece of
monument stand beside the pond situated in the
special garden.
The
garden is delightful which is pleasingly
landscaped with natural surroundings. The
garden is quite charming in spring and autumn.
The dawn of spring is indicated by the bloom
of
Rhododendron arboreum. The autumn on the other hand is marked with colourful
berries of Pyracantha
crenulata and other species. Some natural
plant species growing in the garden are Viburnum,
Rosa moschata, Reinwardtia indica, Luculia
gratissima, Mahonia napaulensis etc.
According to the recent organogram, the Royal
Botanical Garden embraces three sections viz.
Garden Development Section; Botanical
Information, Production & Sales Section
and Conservation & Educational Garden
Section. The Royal Botanical Garden embraces
many mini gardens.
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| Gate
and Botanical Information Center |
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The
main metal road ends at the main gate of the
garden. The visitors can park their vehicles
infront of the main gate and can buy tickets
to enter inside the garden.
A
two storeyed building, the Botanical
Information Centre, is located at this main
entrance of the garden. Some indigenous,
exotic, ornamental plants of commercial and
ethical value are artistically displayed in
the ground floor of this building. The
information on plant resources of the country
along with the cultivation aspects of
ornamental plants are available here.
Indigenous as well as exotic ornamental plants
are propagated and sold here. Publications of
Department of Plant Resources and Garden
souvenirs are available here.
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| Physic
Garden |
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This
part of garden is living museum of medicinal
plants. Both indigenous and exotic medicinal
plants are grown in different small plots. The
medicinal plants cultivated in this garden
include Ephedra
gerardiana, Mentha
piperata, Mentha spicata, Ricinus communis, Aloe vera, Justicia adhatoda, Dichroa febrifuga, Houttuynia
cordata and
Costus speciosus etc. Besides this, some
exotic medicinal
plants such as Coptis
suaveolens, Solanum surattense and Nepeta
sp. are conserved in this garden.
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| Special
Garden |
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The
special garden has open landscape with few
tall trees here and there. Some of the
conspicuous trees are Schima
wallichii, Grevillea robusta, Fraxinus
floribunda, Lagerstroemia indica etc.
Small bushes of trimmed Juniperus
encircles the pond. There is an attractive
water fountain at the centre of this pond. Few
steps upward the fountain, there are green
houses where the ornamental flowers are
preserved. A number of Azalea are planted between the green houses. There are number of
beds by the sides of green houses and below
the level of water fountain which are ablazed
for most part of the season by ornamental
herbs
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| Orchid
House |
| The
orchid house has extensive collections of
indigenous orchids. It is an wodden open shade
consisting of numbers of wooden baskets and
log pieces carrying epiphytic orchids. On this
floor varieties of colorful orchids could be
seen. About 90 species of orchids are
represented in this house. The collections
include Dendrobium
densiflorum Ceologyne cristata, Calanthe
masuca and Pleione hookeriana etc.
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| Cactus
House |
| This
house is located on the top at the right side
of special garden. This house has extensive
collection of Cactus like Mammilaria, Notocactus, Epostoa, Casteria and Echeveria
etc. Besides
these the three headed cactus
Echinocactus grusonii
is one of the main attractive species
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| Terrace
Garden |
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 The
terrace garden is a Nepalese style of farming.
In different terraces
Mahonia napaulensis,
Hypericum cordifolium, Anaphalis
contorta, Pyracantha
crenulata and
Osbeckia nepalensis are growing.
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| Fern
Garden |
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This
part of the garden is devoted for the
representation of Ferns of Nepal. Under the
shade of
Alnus and among the boulders a large
number of Ferns are planted. In the middle of
Fern garden, there is a Fern house, where
various species of Ferns are conserved in
pots. The Fern collection include
Polystichum, Pteris, Polypodium, Asplenium
etc. Among these, the tree fern, Cyathea spinulosa, which is one of the endangered species of Nepal,
is of special interest.
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Japanese
Style Garden
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The
rock and boulders of big and small size,
scattered among low bushes along the streams
are unique feature of this garden. Dwarf and
big plants such as
Camellia japonica, Azaleas, Rhododendron
arboreum, Pyracantha crenulata are
intermixed here.
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Water
Garden
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A
vast stretch of land somewhat flat and
undulating with streams and brooks swiftly
flowing through it goes to form the main body
of the garden. This part is known as Water
garden. This garden is complex of a small but
cutely designed gardens, such as Rock garden,
Fern garden, Japanese style garden and Lily
garden.
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Lilly
Garden
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Passing
through the Japanese style garden
across the stream there is a piece of open
space where most of the plants belonging to
Liliflorae such as
Agapanthes, Narcissus, Iris, Hemerocallis,
Polyanthus and
Lilium etc. are grown. During rainy season
between July and August, most of the species
flower.
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Coronation
Pond
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The
Coronation pond is established at the west
corner of the garden in natural
landscape. In
the center of this pond, there is a Majestic
pillar of 7m. high standing erect with a crown
on the top to mark the historic event of His
Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah
Dev's coronation held on 24th
February, 1975.
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Tropical
House
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Tropical
house is a huge glass house,
 where most of the
tropical plants such as Cassia fistula, Acacia
catechu, Magnifier
indica, Piper betel and
Dillenia pentagyna, etc. are conserved.
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Rose
Garden
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In
this garden, different varieties of roses are
planted in long beds interrupted by stony
crazy path. During March and April, the roses
are one of the main attraction of the garden.
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VVIP
Plantation Area
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A
plot of flat land is allocated for planting of
saplings by VVIPs. Head of the states of
Yugoslavia, China, Britain, India, Bangladesh
Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka, Japan, Maldives,
Romania, Spain, Germany, have already planted
different species of plants in this plot
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Rock
Garden
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|
 The
Rock garden is one of the spectacular place of
the Royal Botanical Garden. It is densely
covered with different species of Sedum,
Echivera, and other plants of succulent
nature. The rock arrangement are intermixed
with different species of Agave,
Opuntia, Yucca, Sanseveria and
Juniperus etc.
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| Bulbous
Garden
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Close
to the Rock garden, there is Bulbous garden
with varieties of attractive bulbous plants.
It consists of an artificially made small
irregular pond named as Lily pond which is
planted with Lilium,
Narcissus, Hepiastrum, Hemerocallis and
Zantedeschia etc. at its surroundings.
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Shed
Houses
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In
different place of the garden, there are shed
houses with thatched roof where the visitors
can sit and enjoy the natural blessing in
peaceful atmosphere. These houses are named as
Manasalu house, Summer house, Star house, and
Moon house.
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Conservation
and Educational Garden
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The
main aim of this garden is to promote
education and knowledge of plant resources for
students, researchers, and naturalists as
well. In this garden, about 89 species of
trees, 26 species of shrubs, 50 species of
herbs, 12 species of climbers are conserved.
Some common trees and shrubs of this garden
are Choerospondias
axillaris, Myrica esculenta, Schima wallichii,
Alnus nepalensis, Pyracantha crenulata, Rubus
ellipticus, Mahonia napaulensis etc.
Special feature of this garden are Japanese
cherry garden, Flowering peach, VIP
plantation, representation of Fagaceae and
Magnoliaceae garden.
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Flower
Show
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The
garden has been organizing Chrysanthemum Flower Show since
1996.
It is organized each year in
the Chrysanthemum
blooming season. The main objective of
this exhibition is to promote cultivation of
Chrysanthemum
flower, which is one of the most popular
flower in the international market. A call for
different private parties and nurseries are
made to participate in this exhibition.
"The Royal Botanical Garden Running
Shield" is awarded as first prize to the
winner of this competition.
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| Opening
Hours
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Garden
Facilities
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Parking facility is available infront
of the main gate.
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Cooking
place is available with the charge of NRs. 500
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Restaurant
facility is available on the upper floor of
information centre.
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| Garden
Etiquette |
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Litters
not allowed.
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Collection of live plants prohibited.
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Dogs or other pets not allowed.
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Cooking inside the garden not allowed.
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Visitors
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More
then 100,000 visitors including students,
researchers, naturalist, foreigners visit the
garden every year.
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Revenue
Collection
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Revenue
is collected from entrance ticket, parking,
film shooting, selling of flowers, books and
garden souvenirs.
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| Entrance
Fees*
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| Entrance
Ticket |
Adults (NRs.) |
Below
10 years (NRs.) |
| Nepali
citizens |
5.00 |
2.00 |
| SAARC
country |
10.00 |
5.00 |
| Foreigners |
25.00 |
10.00 |
| Other
Fees |
| Camera |
per
day |
10.00 |
| Vidoe Camera |
per
day |
100.00 |
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| Film
Shooting |
| National |
per day |
3500.00 |
| Bilateral |
per
day |
5000.00 |
| Foreigner |
per day |
16000.00 |
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*
Subject to change at any time.
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