Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos
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Cienfuegos Province Botanical Garden, located at 14 kilometers from the city centre, also known as Jardin Botanico Soledad. With 97 hectares it’s the oldest institution of this kind in the island founded in 1901 by Edwind F. Atkins and his wife. They arrived to Cuba in search of the island's must precious commodity; sugarcane. Atkins built “Soledad” sugar mill and soon after a research centre dedicated to investigation and enhancement of sugar cane was also created under the name "Harvard Botanical Station for Tropical Research and Sugar Cane Investigation". Mr. and Mrs. Atkins were also kin of plant collecting and soon after they started a tropical and rare species garden by the backyard of their state where plants far from India and China learn how to live in Tropical Cuba.
Today the garden has a large collection of Tropical exotic plants (2000+ species) clustered in 670 genera and 125 botanical families. Among the most complete collections can be mention; orchids (400+), palms (230+), ficuses (65+) and bamboos (29).
Photo galery of Cienfuegos Garden at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cenacuba/sets/72057594084603567/
