Botanical Gardens

Located in Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal, and spread over an area of 273 acres is The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden. It is under the Botanical Survey of India(BSI) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

It was at first founded in 1786 by Colonel Kyd. The herbarium contained about 12,000 live plants and over two and a half million dried plant specimens collected from all over the world. The official name of the Garden was The Honorable Company's Garden Calcutta during the Company's reign, later renamed The Royal Botanical Garden Calcutta in the early 1860s. Now it is officially called Indian Botanical Garden Howrah but is more commonly known as Calcutta Botanical Garden in India and abroad.

The tea is grown in what is now Assam, and Darjeeling Tea was first developed in this garden.

Rare types of trees from Nepal, Brazil, Penang, Java, and Sumatra are found in this garden. There are towering mahogany trees, an avenue of Cuban palms, and an orchid house.

It was developed by Colonel Alexander Kyd of the East India Company for the introduction and adaptation of a collection of indigenous plants from other parts of the country.

There is a serpentine lake where boating is possible. Botanical Gardens has a priceless collection of books in its library.

Indian Botanical Garden are most famous for the great banyan tree, which claims to have the immense canopy in the world, at more than 330 meters in circumference.