Field Report
Botanic gardens provide an example of how modern society has changed the attitude towards nature. A botanic garden is a garden that is specifically set aside for cultivation, preservation, and display of a wide range of plants identified with their botanical names. A botanic garden can also contain a greenhouse with a unique collection of plants. One example of a well know botanic garden is the Melbourne botanic garden. The Melbourne botanic garden was founded in the year 1846, and it is found at the south side of the Yarra River. The Melbourne botanic garden is considered as one of the largest botanic gardens in the world with the land that extends across thirty-six hectares. The botanic garden consists of up to 50, 000 individual plants representing different species of plants. Exotic plants are present in most of the botanic gardens in the world. The exotic plant is a type of plant that has been introduced in a physical environment that is different from its native environment. At the Melbourne botanic gardens, the idea of exotic plants has been useful in the introduction of different species of plants at the botanic garden.
The Melbourne botanic gardens consist of over 6000 different species of trees including the indigenous trees, rare and the exotic trees (Entwistle, 2017). The Melbourne temperate climate has allowed a wide range of plants to be brought together. The idea of the exotic plants has resulted in the establishment of commemorative trees at the Melbourne botanic gardens. Approximately, 40 percent of the trees at the Melbourne botanic gardens are Australian native species. Due to the idea of exotic plants, the other percentage of plants at the Melbourne botanic gardens are species from other parts of the world. Plants are features of nature that are useful for keeping human history. The purpose of commemorative plants is to keep the history of significant individuals in society. At Melbourne botanic gardens, there are more than eighty commemorative trees that have been planted in the last 166 years for keeping the history of significant people in the society. However, not all the people whose names appear at these commemorative plants resided near Melbourne botanic gardens. Some of the significant individuals whose name appear at these commemorative plants have come from countries that are very far from Melbourne botanic gardens with very different climate from the temperate climate of the Melbourne botanic gardens. Through the idea of the exotic plants, the commemorative plants have been transferred from the different countries and introduced at the Melbourne botanic gardens.
The Melbourne botanic gardens hold different collection of trees for the educative purpose. The Melbourne botanic gardens contain different species of trees from every part of the world (Lam, 2018). Through exotic idea, some tree species are transferred from different countries where the climate is much different from the climate at the Melbourne botanic gardens. Different climate conditions mean that the tree species can be exposed to a certain plant disease while at its natural climate. When the plant species is transferred from its natural climate to the Melbourne botanic gardens, the tree species can be free from the initial tree disease it initially had at its natural climate as per the exotic idea. To make a botanic garden more educative, different tree species require to be planted at the botanic garden. At the Melbourne botanic gardens, different plant types survive at the same climatic conditions. The plants have successfully been introduced at Melbourne botanic gardens through the use of the exotic idea. Plants from different climatic conditions at Melbourne botanic gardens enable researchers to understand different plant adaptations, hence making the Melbourne botanic gardens more educative. At the Melbourne botanic gardens, different gardens contain different tree species with different adaptation features, which are useful for the educative and research purpose. The existence of different gardens with completely different trees with different adaptations at the same garden has been achieved through the application of the exotic idea.
At the visitors’ center of the Melbourne botanic gardens, there is a unique gateway building that has been constructed by use of modern architectural concepts. The building is a mirrored façade that is useful for making the visitors at the Melbourne botanic gardens develop a new environmental change. The building has been fitted with attractive window panes, and air circulation inside it is adequately enhanced. The Melbourne botanic garden is a place of research on plants, and air circulation has been enhanced at the visitors building to create a conducive environment for research. On walking through the Melbourne botanic garden, I realized that the botanic garden had several gardens that have been classified depending on the type of trees that are contained in a particular tree garden. The first garden I came across during the walk was the Arid garden. The garden contains trees that have been obtained from the Arid parts of the world. The trees are obtained from countries experiencing the arid type of climate and introduced to the temperate climate at Melbourne botanic gardens through the use of the exotic idea. Trees that are adapted to the arid climate are used in the manufacture of timber because most of them are hardwoods. The Arid garden helps the researchers to identify distinct characteristics of hardwood trees, which is useful for discovering more hardwood plants.
In my walk at the Melbourne botanic gardens, I came across the Bloodwood Garden. The purpose of this particular garden in the Melbourne botanic gardens is to showcase the beauty of the tree trunks (Neldner, 2018). The exotic idea is used to introduce trees with different tree trunks from different parts of the world in the Bloodwood garden. Plants develop different tree trunks depending on the climatic condition of where they are grown. Trees from desert climatic conditions and trees from cool climatic conditions have different tree trunks because of adaptation purposes. Trees that grow at wet areas have thick trunks because of the presence of succulent material that is different from trees that grow at dry areas. At the Bloodwood garden, there are different species of trees from different areas of the world. The trees present at this particular garden have different tree trunks because they been obtained from areas with different climatic conditions. Exotic idea in this garden ensures that trees with different trunk adaptations are obtained from different climatic conditions and introduced at the Bloodwood garden for the showcase purpose.
Exotic idea has been used at the Melbourne botanic gardens to ensure that the garden holds a wide variety of tree species. Most of the commercial drugs used by the members of the community are obtained from trees. Bringing different species of trees together at the Melbourne botanic gardens has enhanced research that has resulted in the discovery of different types of commercial drugs from different tree species. Discovery of the new drugs has improved the health of the society members. The exotic idea is used at the Melbourne botanic gardens to come up with a collection of trees with different adaptation features. Different plants have different commercial uses in the industry. Hardwoods are used in the industry for the production of timber used in the manufacture of home furniture.
Through the exotic idea, trees are transferred from arid areas to the Melbourne botanic gardens without transferring the tree diseases. The trees are then displayed at the Melbourne botanic gardens for further research on the characteristics of hardwoods. The research on hardwoods has contributed to the discovery of more hardwood plants. The discovery has then increased the production of hardwood furniture, hence improving the lives of the citizens. The exotic idea at the Melbourne botanic gardens plays an important role in conserving of plant biodiversity and protecting the rare plants in the world. The programs of protecting the endangered plant species through the use of exotic idea has been adopted by many members of the society. The practice has led people to develop a sense of protecting the existing plants and planting more plants. As a result, modern community members are able to live healthy lives because trees sustain human life by provision of medicines and food.
References
Entwistle, T., Cole, C. & Symes, P. (2017). Adapting the botanical landscape of Melbourne Gardens (Royal Botanic
Gardens Victoria) in response to climate change. Plant Diversity, 39(6), 338-347.
Lam, C. K. C., Loughnan, M., & Tapper, N. (2018). Visitors’ perception of thermal comfort during extreme heat events at the Royal Botanic Garden Melbourne. International journal of biometeorology, 62(1), 97-112.
Neldner, V. J., Rogers, R. W., & Forster, P. I. (2018). The lichen flora of tropical Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. Australian Journal of Botany, 66(5), 428-447.