Jardin des plantes, Botanical garden in 5th arrondissement, France.
Jardin des Plantes is a botanical garden in Paris's 5th arrondissement featuring multiple greenhouse complexes, museum galleries, and themed garden sections. The grounds contain thousands of plant species organized by type and origin, along with a zoo, walkways, and outdoor display areas.
Guy de La Brosse obtained a royal edict in January 1626 creating the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants, ratified on 8 July; the first plots were bought on 21 February 1633 and the garden opened to the public in 1634. Buffon, director from 1739 to 1788, doubled its size and funded explorers who sent back specimens. In 1793 the Convention renamed it Jardin des plantes and founded the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.
The garden's name comes from its 17th-century purpose: growing medicinal plants for future physicians and apothecaries. Lecturers known as demonstrateurs taught botany, chemistry and geology to visitors in the garden itself. The rose garden, between the Haüy alley and the Mineralogy gallery, displays 170 horticultural rose varieties and holds two marbles, L'Amour captif by Félix Sanzel and Venus genitrix by Charles Dupaty.
The garden opens early each day and operates year-round with seasonal closing times that vary between winter and summer. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes and plan enough time to explore the different sections and outdoor areas at a leisurely pace.
The zoo section was one of Europe's earliest and emerged in the 1790s as a place for animal care and research. Today it focuses on protecting endangered species and allows visitors to watch animals in habitats designed to resemble natural settings.
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