Bogor Botanical Gardens In Java, Indonesia

Ever heard about Bogor in Java, Indonesia?

Pretty much the only reason vacationers stop off in this town is to see the glorious botanical gardens here, that are the earliest and the most important botanical gardens in Indonesia. The gardens have a couple trees labelled every now and then and a couple of info panels, but on the whole, they're fairly difficult for the first time visitor to decipher. That is why we created this little guide to guide you are to the most compelling features of the gardens and also to assist you understand things a little better. 

But first, let's give you a bit of background details about Bogor, the urban setting to the botanical gardens.


The Indonesian Institute of Sciences is defined make a proposal to UNESCO that the Bogor Botanic Gardens be recognized as a World Heritage Site due to its vast collection of plants and the historical value of its buildings, landmarks and landscape. We've been considering suggesting that Bogor Botanical Gardens will be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the last year, stated LIPI Vice President for Biodiversity Science, Enny Sudarmonowati, during a discussion on Wednesday. She explained it was quite upsetting for biodiversity experts in Indonesia to see that the Singapore Botanic Gardens had been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site even though its plant collection wasn't as fast as Bogor Botanical Gardens'

Therefore, We're committed to fighting for the inclusion of the Bogor Botanical Garden as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stated any. Currently, researchers at LIPI and Bogor Botanical Gardens are talking which portions of the gardens will be suggested to UNESCO for recognition as World Heritage Sites. They include 3 buildings in the group of historical heritage buildings, namely the Tribe Laboratory, the Nusa Indah Guest House along with the Lady Olivia Monument. For heritage landscape, they'll propose Astrid Avenue, the Hanging Bridge and the Palm Tree Park. Meanwhile, the Teysman Park will be suggested as a heritage landmark. From The Indonesian National Committee for UNESCO's tentative list, 19 buildings and national parks are being suggested as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The expansive Bogor botanical gardens are undoubtedly Bogor's primary and possibly only draws for most travelers. Operated from the Indonesian Institute Of Sciences, the gardens cover an area of 87 hectares and are a veritable oasis of tranquility in the middle of the Bogor metropolis. The gardens feature expansive lawns, lotus and lily ponds, gurgling streams, avenues of stately trees along with other delights. There are 3, 373 distinct species of plants, trees and shrubs planted here, originating from several different countries. The gardens feature the palace complex and the intriguing Bogor Zoology Museum. A short history of the botanical gardens.

The botanical gardens of Bogor were officially opened by the Dutch colonial government in 1817. Before the introduction, the German born Dutch botanist, Professor Reinwardt had converted the extensive grounds of the presidential palace into the new gardens, in collaboration with two botanists from Kew Gardens. In 1840, a botanist called Johannes Elias Teijsmann became conservator of the gardens and spent the next 50 years developing them. The gardens have soon become an international research center for a variety of plants of economic potential, which were gathered from all over the Indonesian archipelago and beyond. Plants such as West African oil palm, cinchona, coffee, hot chocolate, rubber, tobacco, tea, soybean and rice was grown in gardens for research and experimentation.

The researchers were quite intrigued in learning more about diseases which were a threat to their cash crops. The gardens were briefly under the control of the Japanese and in the late 40's, the Dutch acknowledged the sovereignty of Indonesia and the gardens were eventually handed over to the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. In 1962, the gardens became part of the National Biological Institute of Indonesia, with the intensive scientific research benefiting pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. In the year 2006, a bad storm hits the gardens challenging, damaging a significant amount of mature trees and forcing the authorities to close the gardens for a week.

There's an entry fee to the botanical gardens. Indonesians pay about 14, 000 rupiah and for international vacationers the fee is 25, 000 rupiah. Yes, quite easily actually know all the temptations, but we do know that. We do not readily enter gaps in the there's a quiet corner of the botanical gardens, fencing on the southwestern corner of the botanical gardens, quite close to the Bogor zoology museum. That cautious, nobody will notice you slipping in.

The gardens are broadly sq in form and cover a place of 87 hectares. The Ciliwung River runs throughout the park in two divided stations and there are numerous bridges crossing the river stations. The principal entrance is located in the south end of the park and the majority of the backyard facilities are located here and also the ticket counter. There are nearly 14, 000 living specimens from the park, comprised of 3, 373 species, 1257 genera and 218 households, but they are not haphazardly through the gardens. Similar plants are usually grouped together into gardens and collections in the principal gardens, those with a certain theme or focus.

By way of example, you've the Mexican garden, bamboo collection, medical garden etc. There are also several specific points of interest in the park. The gardens encourage more than 50 varieties of birds and many species of bats. A few of the older trees support large colonies of flying foxes.

The Mexican garden 

This region includes an extremely intriguing collection of cacti, agave, yuccas along with other succulent plants. The name of the backyard is a piece of a misnomer because not all the species here originate from Mexico. Desert plants such as these have a tendency to have leaves and plants such as cacti have spines rather than leaves. Each one of these attributes is special adaptations to lessen water loss, in the hot desert climate. Some plants in arid conditions also have deep root systems to attain water that is far beneath the surface. A few of the notable species we encountered here would be the Peruvian apple cactus, prickly pear cactus, the Spanish dagger and a poisonous spurge known as Euphorbia lactea.
 

The blossoms of the prickly pear cactus are beautiful when fully however the one below was unopened. The fruit of the plant is edible, even though you should take great care to peel away the outer coating or else you may end up with a mouth filled with cactus spines. The Spanish dagger, also known as the Spanish bayonet, is another intriguing species to be found in the backyard. The name of the plant is likely derived from the sharply pointed leaves that resemble daggers or bayonets. The plant is native to the sand dunes on the southeastern shore of North America, but it's spread to several other nations worldwide. What we loved most about it had been the gorgeous clusters of creamy bell shaped flowers. 


Bamboo Collection

 

The bamboo collection is located on in the western part of the gardens, near the presidential palace. The highlight here's the racks of giant bamboo, one of the biggest family grass and discovered through many nations in Southeast Asia. The species has a clumping habit in order that numerous stalks have a tendency to arch skywards through the same point of origin. The sheer size of the species is what makes it impressive.

In older specimens, the stalks can transcend a foot in thickness and the stalks can reach heights of 30-40 yards. The growth rates of the species in good conditions can be shocking, with 40+ centimeters of expansion in a single day off. Worldwide, the bamboo tribe consists of over 1, 000 recognized species out of over 90 genera. They're the quickest growing plants in the world with increase rates of up to 91cm per day having been listed. 

The Medical Garden

This place isn't visually magnificent, but it is extremely intriguing to find out about the different medical plants and their uses. You'll get the garden in the northeastern part of the park. A number of the plants are well marked and you will find several info panels, which describe the vast array of diseases the plants are utilized to combat.


The corpse flower (Amorphophallus Titanum)

 

Probably the most impressive things in Bogor are the corpse flowers of the titan arum plant. The plant is endemic to the rain forests of western Sumatra and it boasts the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. It is also the world's greatest blossom, with the tallest ever recorded fully vertical Flowers measuring in at 3.5 meters in height. The massive underground tubers are nearly equally striking, weighing up to 120kg when old. The plant attracts flies, carrion beetles along with other insects by emitting a strong scent of rotting flesh which may be discovered from 100 meters away. The flies and beetles enter within the plant where some of the pollen from the male flowers sticks to their bodies.

Some time later, the same pests transfer the pollen to the female flowers of another plant everywhere. One thing you need to be aware of with this plant is the blossoming is a rare and extremely unpredictable event. It only happens about once every three years in Bogor and once it does, the flower draws over simply flies and dung beetles, i.e. thousands of tourists. There are 10 dormant tubers from the gardens, but they each can lie dormant for many years. To maximize your likelihood of seeing the flower, you ought to go in the rainy season, from October to march because that is when it flowers. Even then, the flowering event only lasts for 2 days so that it is a really narrow window of opportunity! Whenever we explored the gardens, there was not any sign of the titan arum flowers unfortunately.