Southern Federal University Southern Federal University (), abbreviated as SFedU () and formerly known as Rostov State University (1957–2006), is a public university in Rostov Oblast, Russia with campuses in Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog. In 2023 ''US News & World Repor ...

's botanical garden is located in the North-Western part in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, in the

Temernik The Temernik (, also Temernichka ) is a small river in Rostov Oblast of Russia. It is a right tributary of the Don, and is 33 km long, with a drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converge ...

river valley. It's the first

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 the vast territory of the treeless zone in the South of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. There is a mineral spring called St.Seraphim of Sarov on the territory of the garden, which is presented by the Directorate of the garden as an Orthodox shrine.

History

The need to create a Botanical garden in the city was first discussed in 1915, after the evacuation of the University of Warsaw to Rostov-on-Don because of the danger of occupation of the Polish capital by German troops. But only in 1927, on the initiative of professors V. F. Chmielewski and V. N. Varshavskogo the city authorities have allocated for the Botanical garden 74,11 ha. Botanical garden the North Caucasus Federal University were the first on the vast territory of the treeless zone of the South of Russia. The Botanical garden appeared in 1927. The basis of the garden planning was the map of the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

. It was assumed that the main alleys and paths of the garden will correspond to the contours of the map of the region and its railway lines. Representatives of subalpine birch forests,

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forests and beech-fir planting, moved to new conditions, in the first years almost all died. By 1940, the collection Fund of the garden numbered more than a thousand plants, including hornbeam, sycamore, velvet tree. During the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, not only greenhouses, office buildings and structures were destroyed, but the collections of greenhouse and flower-decorative herbaceous plants were completely lost. The Park and the arboretum were significantly damaged. Many large trees such as oak, hornbeam, beech, pine and others were destroyed. About 100 species of garden forms were killed, which made up one third of the collection, most of the most rare deciduous and evergreen plants. In the post-war period, all the buildings and the collection Fund of the Botanical garden were fully restored. Nowadays the Botanical garden is a state budget educational and scientific unit of the southern Federal University.

Collection

Its area exceeds 200 hectares. It is home to over 6,500 species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Almost 1,600 species and forms reaches the flora collection collected in the greenhouse of tropical and subtropical cultures. Over 5,000 species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants grow in the greenhouses of the garden and in the open field, including the greenhouse of tropical and subtropical plants in the collection of flora of Africa, South-East Asia, North and South America, Australia which has almost 1,600 species of plants.

References

{{coord, 47.236, 39.655, type:landmark_region:RU_dim:2000, display=title Tourist attractions in Rostov-on-Don Buildings and structures in Rostov-on-Don Cultural heritage monuments in Rostov-on-Don Botanical gardens in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Rostov Oblast