Jardin des Plantes

Jardin des Plantes is a real botanic Garden created with the purpose of cultivating and storing medicinal plants. Not only does it keep a wide diversity of flowers and bushes, it also holds the National Museum of Natural History, a small zoo and some green-houses.

Aware that the future of humanity depends on the responsibility we have on ecosystem protection of global biodiversity, the Jardin des Plantes is another one of those admirable and respectable places that contains one of the most complete and preserved collections of species from around the world.

Inside the garden, the School of Botany involves students, who recreate favorable conditions in projects to maintain this biodiversity and disseminate knowledge about the interdependence between living beings and the environment.

The Garden runs away from the traditional tourist route, but it is a great walk, even for children. It is frequented, mainly, by residents and students of the region of the Latin Quarter.

The four greenhouses:

"Winter Garden" greenhouse, which recreates the hot and humid climate of humid tropical forests, with palms, banana trees and creepers.

Greenhouse Mexicana, with cacti, species of coffees and peppers.

Greenhouse with wild plants characteristic of Australia and New Caledonia.

Paleobotanical greenhouse, which has a historical interest, since it describes the development of the terrestrial flora since its appearance, more than 400 million years ago.

The Zoo (La Ménagerie)

It is one of the oldest in the world, created in 1793, with animals transferred from the zoo of Versailles.

Although it was once the home of giraffes, elephants and bears, it is today the nest of small and medium-sized species (some of which are not well known), since large species would require larger spaces and adequate facilities.

The main gardens:

Rose garden with different subspecies of roses - a dazzle to the eyes and the smell.

Alpine garden with with shrubs and plants from mountainous regions such as Himalayas and Alps.

Ecological garden, with plants of wild nature, where human intervention is the minimum possible.

There is a labyrinth in the garden, where you walk along uneven roads, where the cedar of Lebanon reigns. At the top of this maze is a small bronze construction (gazebo Buffon), dating from 1788.

The Gallery of Mineralogy exhibits at its entrance a large quartz crystal, from Vitória da Conquista, in Bahia, Brazil.

The Palaeontology Gallery is also impressive. It is like going back in time to so many ancient skeletons and furniture.

The great Galerie de l'Évolution pleases adults and children.

Several statues are found along the way, adorning gardens and galleries.

Monument - Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. Léon Fagel, (1909)

The Natural History Museum houses hundreds of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, stuffed or preserved, which are on display and show the expansion of the animal world in a beautiful building, a true treasure of architecture.

The gardens buildings have been classified as historical monuments since 1993.

At the Jardin des Plantes website, you can see all varieties of planted species, the location map of each species within the garden and a time of flowering of each.