The National Herbarium and Botanic Garden is a center for research and information on the indigenous plants of Zimbabwe. It s responsible for the study of Zimbabwe flora in order to promote its conservation, development and sustainable use. Its mission is To Increase Knowledge and Appreciation of Zimbabwean Plants. It fulfills this mission by looking after the plant specimens that are the essential resource material required in studying plant characters in order to arrive at their identity and names. The National Herbarium stores preserved plant specimens while the living specimens are grown in the National Botanic Garden.
The institute has three interlinked sections:
i. The Herbarium
ii. The Botanic Garden
iii. The Education Centre
The Herbarium has about 500 000 plant specimens. It is the main reference center for research on identifying and naming plants of the Flora Zambesiaca Region. This region comprises Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana and the Caprivi.
The Botanic Garden grows over 900 trees and shrubs of Zimbabwe in groups to show the associations that are found in various parts of the country. It has sections with trees of the Highveld, Lowveld and Eastern Highlands. Also growing are a number of trees from other countries that have climatic conditions similar to Zimbabwe e.g. Asia and Australia.
The Education Centre disseminates information on the plants of Zimbabwe and the plant kingdom in general to educational institutions especially schools.
12 сен 2024
