The collections treasured at the Cienfuegos Botanical Garden (JBC in Spanish), in south-central Cuba, attract experts as well as tourists and entire families who enjoy themselves there.
The oldest institution of its kind in the country is also considered the most relevant for the richness of its plant varieties, many of them unique in the Americas and other latitudes of the planet, as well as for its research work aimed at continuing to improve species for national and international use.
The JBC, located some 15 kilometers from the city of Cienfuegos, has 97 hectares, seven of which are preserved natural forest, and is home to more than a thousand and a half species; plants of 670 genera from 125 families, mostly arboreal. According to its specialists, 70% of the specimens are foreign species from Asia, Africa, Oceania and America.
The institution was founded in 1901 by the American businessman Edwin F. Atkins, who had acquired a sugar factory at the end of the 19th century. In its beginnings, with the name Harvard Botanical Station for Tropical Research and Sugar Cane Investigation and size of 4,5 hectares, its purpose was to develop studies to improve sugar cane varieties and obtain more productive ones.
Now belonging to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, its collections include palms, considered among the most complete and important in the world; orchids, with more than 400 species, bamboos, Ficus or jagüeyes, leguminous plants..., a whole universe of plants in a garden that also has facilities for carrying out research aimed at preserving its varieties, promoting new species and revitalizing those in danger of extinction, among other objectives.
Numerous Cuban and foreign tourists visit this botanical treasure every day, declared a National Monument in 1989 and relevant beyond national borders due to its natural beauty and scientific rigor.