BOTANICAL GARDEN

An Enchanted Paradise

Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, previously known as the Indian Botanic Garden, is situated in Shibpur, Howrah, on the banks of the Hooghly and houses an old Banyan tree that is more than 250 years old. Established in the year 1787 at the proposal of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Kyd by the then Governor General Lord Cornwallis, this garden, spanning 273 acres, was popularly called Company Garden. Currently, it is operated by the Botanical Survey of India and is one of the oldest and largest green reserves of its kind in South East Asia.

The garden contains around 12,000 living perennial plants and thousands of dried out plants collected from across the globe. The star attraction is, of course, the colossal Great Banyan Tree that forms the second largest canopy in the world. There is no clear history of the tree as to the time of its planting but it is mentioned in some travel books of the 19th century. It was damaged by two great cyclones of 1864 and 1867.

The garden also nurtures several amazing orchids and multi-coloured flowers and boasts the richest collection of bougainvillea, bamboos, citrus, jasmine, water lilies, ferns, creepers, hibiscus and a range of floricultural and arboricultural plants. This botanical park is also home to a rare water lily ‒ the Victoria Amazonica.