National Botanic Garden of Zimbabwe is situated about 4 km North of Harare City Centre in the suburb of Alexandra Park. It also houses the National Herbarium of Zimbabwe. The gardens have an area of almost 7 square kilometres. Initially established as a recreation area in 1902. In 1962 it became the National Botanic Gardens under the direction of Dr. Hyram Wilder.. Half of the gardens are devoted to indigenous plants from Zimbabwe's woodlands and include most of the 750 species found in the country. Other areas contain plants typical to the African continent including rare and endangered species, as well as exotics from South America, India, Australia and the Far East.