Scents and colors, gardens from here and elsewhere
Brazil: the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro
Audio 02:15
Rio Botanical Garden is home to nearly 4,000 different species of plants and trees from around the world, many of which are threatened with extinction.
© Sarah Cozzolino / RFI
By: Sarah Cozzolino Follow
3 mins
At the feet of Christ the Redeemer, the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro is one of the symbols of the city.
A place where visitors can admire the diversity of Brazilian and foreign flora that extends over 137 hectares, 55 of which are open to the public.
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From our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro
In the shade of the giant bamboos, Hélène and her four children take a break after exploring a good part of the botanical garden and its themed greenhouses.
She has just come out of the orchid greenhouse.
“
We were quite impressed by the beauty of some orchids.
We learned that vanilla was an orchid.
I think it reflects the city quite a bit, which is very green.
This is what impressed us positively.
To see the very significant vegetation in this city, positively impressed
us”, she tells us.
Founded in 1808 by the King of Portugal Dom João VI, the botanical garden is known for its alley of imperial palms, the tallest specimens of which measure almost 50 meters.
Marcus Nadruz, researcher for 40 years in the botanical garden, shows us around.
They explain :
“
This fountain is in the middle of the main alley, the Barbosa Rodrigues alley, the alley of the imperial palms.
Right next to it, we have a
sumahuma
, kapok tree in French.
The composer Tom Jobim particularly liked to sit at the feet of this tree
”.
To listen also: The Domaine Joly-De Lotbinière, a “garden of the senses” in Quebec
A haven of peace in a chaotic, violent and noisy city, the air in the botanical garden is also cleaner, as indicated by the lichens growing on the trunks of the palm trees.
Beatriz came from São Paulo with her daughter to observe the birds and the little monkeys, which are easily photographed.
“
It's a place to rest, to relax, to think about all that man has already inflicted on nature.
Here is a very important place for the future.
For our children
,” she says.
Because the botanical garden has above all a scientific aim.
A pioneer in the census of Brazilian flora and endangered species, it houses the largest herbarium in Brazil.
“
We often say that the botanical garden is not a park to be visited, but rather a research institute open to the public.
We do everything to show the science that the garden produces to the public who come to visit it
,” emphasizes Marcus Nadruz.
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The Rikugien garden in Tokyo
With areas representing the different Brazilian biomes, such as the Atlantic Forest or the Amazon, the garden also seeks to educate its visitors about the preservation of the environment.
The researcher adds:
“
To restore a forest, it takes between 50 and 70 years.
To destroy it, less than a week.
That's disproportionate speed, and unfair.
It is for this reason that this work of knowledge of the flora is very important, because it is a conservation tool
”
.
In the section dedicated to aroids, Marcus shows us the last specimens he brought back from the expedition.
In Brazil, a new species of plant is discovered every two days.
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Brazil
Flora
Environment