Outline
The Botanical Gardens, Graduate school of Science, The University of Tokyo have facilities and wild plant collections for BOTANICAL EDUCATION and RESEARCH. The Botanical Gardens, located in midtown of Tokyo, are open to the public and are sometimes referred to as the Koishikawa Botanical Garden.
The Botanical Gardens are not only the oldest in Japan, but also have a prominent and long history by world wide standards. The Botanical Gardens originated as the Koishikawa Medicinal Herb Garden, which was established in 1684 by the Tokugawa Shogunate. There are many historic plants and ruins that indicate the long history of the Botanical Gardens.
The Botanical Gardens were the birthplace of modern scientific research in botany in Japan after the Meiji Restoration. At present, research activities are focused on the evolution, phylogenetic systematics, and physiology of higher plants. Field studies are carried out in Japan and abroad, including east and southeast Asia. Besides the living plant collection, connected to the Botanical Gardens are a herbarium with 1.4 million specimens (including those of the associated University Museum) and a library of 20,000 books and journals.
The Botanical Gardens, Nikko, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, where alpine, montane, marsh and temperate plants are grown, is a branch of the Botanical Gardens.
Plant colletions
The main collections contain wild collected species of higher plants from eastern Asia (e.g. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China) and many species collected from various other regions of the world. Hardy woody specimens are planted in the arboretum area. The 4,000 species of plants in the living collection comprise 1,400 hardy woody species, 1,500 hardy herbaceous species, and 1,100 tropical and subtropical species.
Since the Botanical Gardens are located in the warm temperate zone, the natural vegetation consists of a mixture of broad-leaved evergreen forests. Remnants of primary broad-leaved evergreen forest, characteristic of the natural vegetation of the Tokyo area, and secondary deciduous forests, dating back over 300 years, remain on hilly slopes within the Gardens. Elsewhere, these forests are widely scattered due to urbanization.
Plant conservation
Ex situ plant conservation is one of the main activities of the Botanical Gardens. Some extremely endangered species have been propagated and propagules returned to their original localities, and many endangered species are cultivated for conservation biology. At present, special attention is focused on conservation of endangered species endemic to the Bonin Islands and Yakushima Island.
Area, location and climate
Area: 161,588 square meter
Location: 139 45'E Longitude, 35 43'N Latitude
Elevation: 24 m above sea level at the meteorological observatory
