The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

Established on the slopes beside River Derwent in 1818, it thrives on a 13.5 hectare site with 6500 species and varieties of plants with 400 of them being Tasmanian plants. Entering the main gates we came across the Auther Wall, which could be internally heated to keep exotic plants growing during the cold season. Now in front of this garden is a herb garden, a semi formal garden constructed from sandstone blocks.

We started our tour of the gardens with the Botanical Discovery Centre that has interactive displays about Tasmanian Flora. A stroll to discover the fascinating Wollemi Pine and its relatives made us cover most of the garden’s features. The Wollemi pine, Wollemia nobilis, belongs to an ancient conifer family with three genera: Agathis, Araucaria and Wollemia. The Wollemia pine was only discovered in 1994, growing at the base of a sandstone canyon in the Wollemi National Park of New South Wales. It is believed that the Wollemi pine is a survivor from the dinosaur era, as Wollemi-like fossil pollens were known to exist 94 million years ago with the last fossil pollens dated 2 million years ago.

Lagerstroemias- Perpetual spring of the tropics

The genus Lagerstroemia belonging to the family Lythraceae comprises of shrubs or trees which are evergreen or deciduous with about 50 species worldwide. These species are distributed from southern and eastern Asia extending to as far as northern Australia.

The flowers of Lagerstroemias are most distinctive with crinkled and ruffled-like petals resembling crepe paper hence the common name ‘Crape or Crepe Myrtle’; the word myrtle alluding to their being close relatives to the large myrtle family (Myrtaceae or the jambu/guava family). The flowers are borne in dense inflorescences referred to as panicles, at the branch tips.