May 1, 2006

• QUITO BOTANICAL GARDENS

    

  If you’re in Quito, you don’t want to miss a visit to the Botanical Garden located in the La Carolina park.

  Included in the gardens are tropical plants native to the rain and cloud forests, and different areas of the garden represent the high-altitude páramo plants, desert, jungle, Inca gardens, and separate areas for orchids, bromeliads, and palms.

  More than 1,200 orchid species and a number of hybrids are exhibited in
  “Crystal Palaces” inside the Quito Botanical Garden. One palace holds altitude orchids and the other tropical
  species.

  Did You Know….

  • In Ecuador, one of each four plant species is an orchid.
  • In one hectare of the Ecuadorian tropical rain forest there
    are more than 350 plant species, a true world record!
  • Ecuador holds approximately 17.000 plant species, more than
    the whole European continent.
  • The medicine that has saved the most lives in the world was
    discovered in an Ecuadorian plant, the “cascarilla”.
  • Ecuador is the most diverse country in terms of plant species
    per area.

  The gardens are new since the last time I was there in 2003.  I look forward to going the next time I’m home.

  info and pictures from exploring-ecuador
    

  • 8:11 am
  • 1 Comment