National Botanical Garden
National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh
The National Botanical Garden of Bangladesh, also referred to as Bangladesh National Herbarium, is the largest plant conservation center in Bangladesh, with an area of around 84 hectares (210 acres). It is located at Mirpur in Dhaka, beside the Dhaka Zoo. It was establishes in 1961. It is one of the greatest botanical gardens of Bangladesh and a tourist destination.
Baldha Garden in the Wari area of Dhaka is administratively part of the National Garden.
It is situated at Mirpur, about 16 km NW of Dhaka and accessible by road.
The garden is well planned and provides learning and recreational facilities adjacent to the Zoo. It is divided into 57 sections, and is managed by Forest Department under Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of Bangladesh.
The garden houses about 56,000 individual of trees, herbs, and shrubs including huge collection of aquatic plants. Many exotic plants have been introduced in the garden and are routinely propagated under the local climatic conditions. Rare and exotic plants of 60 species are found in the garden include Anthurium (Anthurium crystallinum), Camphor (Cinamomum camphora), Rabbit Fern (Davallia canariensis), Dambia (Dombeya spectabilis), white ‘Rangan’ (Ixora superba), little Mussanda (Mussaenda luteola), Amazon Lily (Victoria amazonica), ‘Harhjora’ (Vitis quadrangularis), African Tulip (Spathodea campanulata), Sambucuas (Sambucus nigra), white ‘Chandan’ (Santalum album), etc.
A modern vegetative propagation arrangement and a tissue culture laboratory have been established in the garden for propagation of rare species. Initially, tissue culture of orchids and other rare species have been adopted. Besides, a huge rose garden, criss-crossing lake, watch deck, artificial water fall, bridge over the lake and above all the thousands of migratory birds in winter are the main attractions of the National Botanical Garden.