Editing Botanical garden (section)

==== Tropical ====

There are currently about 230 tropical botanical gardens, many of them in southern and south-eastern Asia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heywood|1987|p=13}}</ref> The first botanical garden founded in the tropics was the [[Pamplemousses Botanical Garden]] in [[Mauritius]], established in 1735 to provide food for ships using the port, but later trialling and distributing many plants of economic importance. This was followed by the [[West Indies]] ([[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens]], 1764) and in 1786 by the [[Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden]] in [[Calcutta]], India founded during a period of prosperity when the city was a trading centre for the [[Dutch East India Company]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Heywood|1987|p=8}}</ref> Other gardens were constructed in [[Brazil]] ([[Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden]], 1808), [[Sri Lanka]] ([[Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya|Botanic Gardens of Peradeniya]], 1821 and on a site dating back to 1371), [[Indonesia]] ([[Bogor Botanical Gardens]], 1817 and [[Kebun Raya Cibodas]], 1852), and [[Singapore]] ([[Singapore Botanical Gardens]], 1822). These had a profound effect on the economy of the countries, especially in relation to the foods and medicines introduced. The importation of [[Para rubber tree|rubber trees]] to the Singapore Botanic Garden initiated the important rubber industry of the [[Malay Peninsula]]. At this time also, [[teak]] and [[tea]] were introduced to India and [[breadfruit]], [[Piper (genus)|pepper]] and [[carambola|starfruit]] to the Caribbean.<ref name=bhist>{{cite web |url=http://www.bgci.org/resources/history |title=The History of Botanic Gardens |work=BGCI.org |publisher=BGCI |access-date=8 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126072238/http://www.bgci.org/resources/history/ |archive-date=26 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Singapore Botanic Gardens, Eco-lake, panorama, Sep 06.jpg|thumb|upright=3.65|center|{{center|[[Singapore Botanic Gardens]], established in 1822. Eco-lake at the [[Bukit Timah]].}}]]

Included in the charter of these gardens was the investigation of the local [[flora]] for its economic potential to both the colonists and the local people. Many crop plants were introduced by or through these gardens{{spaced ndash}}often in association with European botanical gardens such as Kew or Amsterdam{{spaced ndash}}and included [[cloves]], [[tea]], [[coffee]], breadfruit, [[cinchona]], [[sugar]], [[cotton]], [[palm oil]] and ''[[Theobroma cacao]]'' (for chocolate).<ref name=h9 /> During these times, the rubber plant was introduced to Singapore.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hill|1915|pp=212–213}}</ref> Especially in the tropics, the larger gardens were frequently associated with a herbarium and museum of economy.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hill|1915|p=213}}</ref> The Botanical Garden of Peradeniya had considerable influence on the development of agriculture in [[Ceylon]] where the [[Para rubber tree]] ({{lang|la|Hevea brasiliensis}}) was introduced from Kew, which had itself imported the plant from [[South America]].<ref name=h9 /> Other examples include cotton from the Chelsea Physic Garden to the [[Province of Georgia]] in 1732 and tea into India by Calcutta Botanic Garden.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hill|1915|p=222}}</ref> The transfer of [[germplasm]] between the temperate and tropical botanical gardens was undoubtedly responsible for the range of agricultural crops currently used in several regions of the tropics.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heywood|1987|p=10}}</ref>