COLLECTIONS OF TROPICAL PLANTS

WHERE DO THE PLANTS FOR THE GREENHOUSE COME FROM?

Exchanges with other botanical gardens

Most of our plants are obtained through exchanges with other botanical gardens. We also use the INDEX SEMINUM service, which is a free exchange of seeds between botanical gardens around the world.

Expeditions

Prague Botanical Garden organizes many trips to collect seeds, live plants, experiences, and ideas. However, this is only possible with all the necessary documents and permits and with the cooperation of local organizations such as universities or botanical gardens. 

Donations

Important are also donated plants and seeds from institutions and individuals.

Own sowings

We propagate many species ourselves by sowing. We also grow several tropical and endangered plants from seeds in the laboratory. 

Purchases from specialized companies

Some horticultural companies offer a range of plants with documented provenance. 

COLLECTIONS

1) FERNS

Worldwide, ferns boast remarkable diversity, with over 20,000 distinct species. They reproduce through spores and thrive in various environments - from tropical rainforests, rocky cliffs, and mountain forests to alpine meadows and semi-desert landscapes. Some live as epiphytes on trees, while others grow in marshes or stagnant water. A few float on the water's surface, with some even submerged permanently. On the contrary, several species can dry out completely and regrow after rainfall.

Identifying ferns can be challenging. The Prague Botanical Garden cultivates around 400 species of tropical and subtropical ferns, along with spikemosses, lycophytes, quillworts, horsetails, and others.

2) CARNIVOROUS PLANTS

Carnivory in plants is a response to living in nutrient-poor environments such as bogs, sandy soils, or rocky habitats. Nutrients obtained from captured prey provide them with an additional advantage over other plants. Therefore, most carnivorous plants do not require any feeding in cultivation.

Carnivorous plants are found worldwide and include entirely unrelated plants from 17 genera and a total of approximately 700 species. Regions with high species diversity include Australia, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Southeastern USA and, for butterworts, Europe.

In our garden, we cultivate representatives of almost all genera, over 300 species in total.

3) PALMS

Palms constitute the distinct Arecaceae family, encompassing 190 genera and almost 3,000 species. They thrive in the tropics and subtropics worldwide, with the richest diversity found in the South American tropics. Additional centers of evolution are located in New Guinea, the Sundanese Islands (especially Borneo), and Madagascar. Some species are also found in cooler subtropical regions, with two of them (Chamaerops humilis and Phoenix theophrastii) native to southern Europe.

Palms inhabit diverse environments, ranging from the driest to marshy and inundated areas, from lowlands to mountain forests at around 3,000 meters above sea level. In the realm of palms, we find the world's largest inflorescence in the species Corypha umbraculifera, measuring up to 6 meters and containing several million flowers, as well as the largest seed in the world produced by Lodoicea maldivica.

The collection of the Prague Botanical Garden comprises nearly a hundred genera and holds significance even on a European scale, despite its history beginning around the year 2000.

4) ORCHIDS

Orchids belong to the Orchidaceae family and are the second-largest family of vascular plants (the largest being the Asteraceae family). Several tens of thousands of species have been described, but approximately 20,000 species are valid and scientifically recognized.

Orchids are not only plants of the tropics but are found almost everywhere around the world, except in extreme deserts and areas permanently covered in snow and ice. Except for Antarctica, they can be found on all continents and even grow beyond the Arctic Circle. In Europe (including northern Africa, the Middle East, and the European part of Russia), about 520 species of orchids are known, with just under 60 species recorded in Czechia. However, the majority of orchids truly thrive in the tropics of Asia and America.

In our botanical garden, we cultivate over 2,000 species.

5) ANT PLANTS

If someone lives in poverty, they appreciate help from others. Some plants from nutrient-poor habitats can arrange such help for themselves. They provide accommodation for ants, which, in return, fertilize them with their excrement and protect them from herbivores.

Ant plants are very diverse and unrelated. Most of them originate from tropical regions, many grow on trees or rocks. They have developed structures on their bodies suitable as ant shelters, ranging from flat leaves pressed against the substrate, under which ants can seek refuge, to intricate, massive colonies that ants enjoy living in.

Ant shelters are called domatia, a word derived from the Latin term domus, meaning house. Domatia are created by more than 150 genera and over 700 species. This is a very high number, demonstrating the advantages of befriending ants.

6) CYCADS

Cycads are the oldest living seed plants in the world. They have been on Earth since the Paleozoic era, about 200 million years ago. Their heyday and expansion are long gone, and remnants of once large populations survive in usually inhospitable, often rocky habitats, where they face little competition.

The class cycads (Cycadopsida) comprise gymnosperm plants, which are classified into 3 families, 10 genera, and approximately 300 species. They do not produce flowers but cones. They are dioecious plants, meaning male and female plants have different cones. Some species produce huge and striking cones, growing up to a meter in size (Microcycas calocoma), which are the largest in the plant kingdom.

Our collection contains representatives of all genera and more than 100 species.

7) AROIDS

The Araceae is an incredibly interesting family currently undergoing a period of dramatic discoveries. Before 2010, science knew of 114 genera and about 3,750 species. Now, there are already 143 genera and almost 4,100 species listed, with specialists describing new ones each year. While most aroids grow in tropical regions, many species also originate from temperate zones. The greatest diversity is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Borneo.

Among the most popular houseplants are philodendrons, Monstera species, Scindapsus species, Syngonium species, Dieffenbachia species, and many others. Less known is for example the genus Pothos. Our extensive collection of tropical Araceae plants comprises almost 500 species, most of which can be seen in the Fata Morgana Greenhouse.

8) CONIFERNS

Can you name some familiar coniferous trees? Spruce, pine, fir, larch, yew. You might also recall cedar, juniper, perhaps cypress or sequoia. However, there is much more diversity in the world of conifers, with a total of 70 genera and some 630 species.

They grow on all continents except Antarctica, but extensive coniferous forests are mainly found in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. South of the equator, they may not form deep forests, but the number of genera and species is also impressive. In fact, in terms of the number of genera, the southern hemisphere is even richer! There are 30 genera in the north and as many as 40 genera in the south. However, in terms of species richness, the northern hemisphere surpasses the south with almost 340 species compared to just under 300 species in the south.

9) USEFUL PLANTS

The collection presents a diverse group of botanically unrelated plant species united by their economic or spiritual importance to humans. It includes herbs and woody plants from many corners of the world that provide food, medicine, or various materials and resources. Exotic useful plants can be found both in the Fata Morgana Greenhouse and among the seasonally displayed mobile greenery.

Our garden possesses an intriguing ethnobotanical collection of seeds, fruits, and other natural products. These, along with various items made from plant materials, are showcased during occasional exhibitions. Useful plants are used in numerous educational programs and are highlighted during guided tours in the greenhouse.

10) GINGER FAMILY PLANTS

Ginger family plants are found in all tropical regions of the world, most abundantly in Asia. Our collection of ginger family and closely related spiral gingers (Costaceae) comprises approximately 500 items, making it the largest in Central Europe. Its significance lies primarily in the fact that the vast majority of plants were collected from natural habitats.

The ginger family includes many attractively flowering and highly aromatic species used in both cuisine and traditional medicine. The most well-known examples include ginger, turmeric, and cardamom, but many more species are utilized in the tropics. At present, there are 57 genera within the family and the number of described species is expected to reach two thousand soon.

11) SUCCULENT AND XEROPHYTICS PLANTS

The collection of succulent and xerophytic plants with a high number of well-documented specimens of known origin is among the priority collections of the Prague Botanical Garden. These plants are featured in the expositions of the Fata Morgana Greenhouse, World of Succulents, and North American Desert.

Succulent plants exhibit exceptional diversity, spanning over 60 families. Our collection contains plants from 41 families with approximately 180 genera. This includes xerophytic woody plants and bulbous plants. Particularly noteworthy are the plants from Madagascar with known origin and exceptional genetic significance.