Soller Botanic Garden (Mallorca, Spain)
View from the garden (Photo: J.R. Bonet)
Founded in 1985 and opened to the public in 1992, the Sóller Botanic Garden is a Centre of conservation, study and understanding of the Mediterranean flora, specifically the Balearic flora. It is a private Foundation of which the patrons are, The Balearic Government, the Council of Mallorca, and the municipality of Sóller, the University of Balearic Islands, the savings bank SA NOSTRA, the Ibero-Macaronesian Association of Botanic Gardens and the Association of Balearic Natural Science Museum.
The aims of Sóller Botanic Garden are:
- To conserve the endemic, rare or/and endangered plant species of the Balearics, and of other Mediterranean areas of influence.
- To instruct and educate school children and adults, through collections of living plants, exhibitions, lectures, publications, etc.
- Research into the conservation biology of wild species from Balearics.
Facilities:
- Living plant collection divided in two main categories: a) wild flora from the Balearic, Macaronesian (Canary islands, Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde Islands, and Savage Islands), and other Mediterranean Islands like Corsica, Crete, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta or Cyprus; and b) ethnobotany (relationships that exist between people and plants): medicinal plants, edible plants, gardening plants in the Mediterranean, and a genetic reserve of traditional varieties of fruits and vegetables from Balearics.
- The Seed Bank was founded in 1989. It stores samples of seeds from Balearic endangered species or economically important species at -18ºC. The Sóller Botanic Garden seed bank is member of REDBAG (the national network of Spanish seed banks) and member of GENMEDA (the Mediterranean network of seed banks) and of ENSCONET (the European Native Seed Conservation Network).
- Herbarium: collection of dried preserved specimens that document the identity of about 15.000 samples of plants from Balearic Flora.
- Laboratory
- Library
- Propagation and reserve area: glasshouses, shady houses, two germinations chambers with controlled temperature and light conditions, and compost area.