University of California Botanical Garden

Mission:

"To develop and maintain a diverse living collection of plants to support teaching and worldwide research in plant biology, further the conservation of plant diversity, and promote public understanding and appreciation of plants and the natural environment."

Who We Are:

The UC Botanical Garden is a non-profit research garden and museum for the University of California at Berkeley, having a notably diverse plant collection including many rare and endangered plants. Established in 1890, the Garden, which is open to the public year round, has over 13,000 different kinds of plants from around the world, cultivated by region in naturalistic landscapes over its 34 acres.

History:

A small garden of economic plants was established on the Berkeley campus on the site currently occupied by Moffit Library in the 1870’s by Dr. Eugene W. Hilgard (1833-1916), founding Dean of Agriculture . The University of California Botanical Garden was formally established in 1890 by E. L. Greene, the first chairman of the Department of Botany, to form a living collection of the native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants of the State of California, with the intent to gather in as rapidly as possible those of the neighboring states of the Pacific Coast. Within two years the collection numbered 600 species. In the following decade it grew to 1500, but then began to expand both its scope and collection to encompass plants from all continents and about 10,000 species.

The original official Garden was located near Haviland Hall on the north side of campus centered around a large glass conservatory modeled after the London Crystal Palace.