An alpinum (or alpinarium, alpine garden) is a botanical garden specialized in the collection and cultivation of alpine plants growing naturally at high altitudes around the world, such as in the Caucasus, Pyrenees, Rocky Mountains, Alps and Himalayas.
An alpinum tries to imitate the conditions of the plants' place of origin, for example, large stones and gravel beds. One of the main obstacles in developing an alpinum is the, for the plants, non-natural conditions which exist in some areas, particularly mild or severe winters and large rainfall (e.g. United Kingdom and Ireland). This is avoided by growing the plants in alpine greenhouses, which tries to reproduce the ideal conditions. The first true alpinum was created by Anton Kerner von Marilaun in 1875 on the mountain Blaser, in Tyrol, Austria, at an altitude of 2190 meters above mean sea level.[1]
Typical plants found in an alpinum include: