The California Botanic Garden (formerly the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden) is a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
in
Claremont, California
Claremont () is a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of Los Angeles. It lies in the Pomona Valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had ...
, in the United States, just south of the San Gabriel foothills. The garden, at , is the largest botanic garden in the state dedicated to
California native plants
California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic ...
. It contains some 70,000 native Californian plants, representing 2,000 native species, hybrids and
cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s. The seed bank has embryos for the thousands of rare plants.
The garden has an active research department, specializing in
systematic botany
''Systematic Botany'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the study of systematic botany. It is published quarterly by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2010 i ...
and
floristics
Floristics is the study of plants of geographical regions. It is a branch of phytogeography, which technically makes it a branch of botany, geography, and a subbranch of biogeography. Harvard University has a history of research with early contr ...
. The
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...
of
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
, housed at the garden, was transferred from the college in 1996. It holds over 1,200,000 specimens. The journal '' Aliso'' is published by the organization semiannually. The garden offers graduate degrees in
botany
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
through
Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...
.
The garden originated in 1927 when
Susanna Bixby Bryant
Susanna Bixby Bryant (April 11, 1880 – October 2, 1946) was an American horticulturalist, rancher, botanical collector and the founder of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California, the largest botanic garden in the state t ...
established a native garden on her rancho in Orange County. The garden relocated to Claremont in 1951. The facility, run by a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
, was open to the public with free admission for 58 years; in 2009 an admission fee was implemented. In 2019, the garden was renamed "California Botanic Garden" to better represent the contents of its collections.
List of California native plants
California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century. California includes parts of at least three phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristi ...
Yorba Linda
Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census.
Yorb ...