If you are a nature lover and like seeing the world’s whole nature only in three hours, Iran’s Natl. Botanical Garden is a must to see.

‘You can see all nature’s variety here!’ This is what guides of Botanical Garden say to the astonished visitors.

Founded in 1968, National Botanical Garden of Iran is located by the side of a highway between the capital, Tehran, and the city of Karaj.

Although made around 40 years ago, the Garden was open to public in recent years.

The place is planned to be the main center for horticulture and plant taxonomy in Iran with area of about 150 hectares.

The Garden is home to 3000 species of plants, shrubs and trees. Throughout a full visit around the wonderful garden you can see different species of plant.Gaillardia grandiflora, Lonicera japonica, Gleditschia caspica, Fraxinus excelsior, Atriplex canescens, Taxus baccata, Sorbus terminal, Frangula alnus, Danae racemose, Quercus castaneifolia subsp undulata, Zelkova carpinifolia, Tilia platypyillus, Ruscus hyrcanus, Tussilago farfara, Urtica dioisa, Polystichum aculeatum, Cydonia oblonga, Albizia julibrissin, Gleditschia caspica, to name a few.

The purpose of establishing the Botanical Garden was to produce a collection of native and non-native plants outdoors or in greenhouses.

The Garden plays an important role in research field of Botany or plant sciences, horticulture, public education and making people aware of the importance and diversity of plants and the need for their protection.

The Botanical Garden is also a resource bank to protect genetically the endangered species from extinction.

National Botanical Garden of Iran can help researchers know about the country’s plant species and determine the scope of their distribution through various scientific methods.

Research on methods of breeding of worthy species for protection is another issue to be addressed in the Garden.

On a weekend in April, I visited this park and truly it was the best time for visiting the big well maintained garden with charming atmosphere as well as calming environment.

In a three-hour tour inside the well-kept beautiful Botanical Garden you can see many plants and species from parts of the world are brought up here in different sections, including Aknorz, Caspian as well as non-Iranian parts like American, Japanese, European, Himalayan, and Caucasian parts.

Still under construction, the garden contains an arboretum, six lakes, hills to represent the Alborz and Zagros mountains and Himalayas, rock garden, a waterfall, a wetland, desert plants areas, a salt lake and a wadi, a river about 1 km long, systematic area, fruit garden, picnic area with some pavilions and other facilities. The botanical and horticultural library has more than 11,000 volumes.

Thanks to the country’s research system, the beautiful place is considered without doubt one of the most important achievements in the field of natural resources.

Accordingly, Iran’s powerful research system has brought together a collection of about 300 researchers in various fields related to natural resources and environmental sciences in this unrivaled complex and national treasure of Iran’s National Garden, trying to take care of the live and unique museum of nature and at the same time make the students and those interested in nature and Botany more familiar with the advantages of Iran’s plants.

In fact, while the annual visit of the UK Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which is the world’s second botanical garden, is close to 2 million, the number of people visiting the National Botanical Garden of Iran in Tehran is only 50 thousand each year.

Worse, the garden every year faces with the nightmare of funding to pay for treatment and maintenance of thousands of plant species.

All these issues perhaps are rooted in the way the spectacular complex deserves to be recognized to the people and the whole world, the place that is the result of efforts and expertise of a group of the most elite researchers and experts in the field of Botany, environmental design and related sciences to forestry and desert.

Realiran