North Carolina Botanical Garden
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| North Carolina Botanical Garden | |
| Date opened | 1951 |
| Location | Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
| Land area | 700 acres (1.1 sq mi/2.8 km²) |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Number of Species | 2,100 |
| Website | |
The North Carolina Botanical Garden (about 700 acres, plus 210 acres of nature preserves) is a botanical garden operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is open daily without charge.
The garden dates back to 1903, when Professor William Chambers Coker began planting trees and shrubs on the central campus (now Coker Arboretum). In 1952 the Trustees dedicated 70 forested acres for botanical garden development. A further 103 acres were donated by William Lanier Hunt. Considerable additions and development of the gardens took place from the 1960s onward.
Today the garden comprises 14 collections and display gardens, containing some 5,900 accessions representing 2,100 species. High points of the garden include:
- Battle Park (90 acres) - forest land in the center of the Chapel Hill.
- Carnivorous Plant Collection - an acclaimed collection of carnivorous plants, including butterworts, pitcher plants, sundews, and Venus Flytraps
- Coastal Plain and Sandhills Habitat Gardens - representing the ecosystems in the eastern part of North Carolina.
- Fern Collection - Southeastern fern species.
- Garden of Flowering Plant Families - a traditional botanical garden, showing evolutionary relationships between flowering plant groups.
- Horticultural Therapy Demonstration Garden - heirloom vegetables and flowers varieties in plantings designed for persons with limited mobility and reach.
- The Mercer Reeves Hubbard Herb Garden — some 500 species, including 52 Rosmarinus officinalis cultivars, arranged in a Culinary Garden, Economic Garden, Medicinal Garden, Native American Garden, and Poison Garden.
- Mason Farm Biological Reserve (367 acres) - natural area.
- Mountain Habitat Garden - plants and trees characteristic of the mountainous areas of the southern Appalachian mountains at elevations ranging from 1,500 feet to 6,684 feet.
- Native Plant Border - native perennials, shrubs, and small trees.
- Native Water Gardens - Nymphaea odorata and Nelumbo lutea, as well as Pontederia cordata, and many others. All aquatic plants are native to the southeastern United States.
- UNC Herbarium (earliest collections 1835) - 750,000 natural history specimens documenting the identity and distribution of plants in North Carolina and the Southeast.
