Nikita Botanical Garden

a research institution devoted to fruit growing; it is administered by the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The botanical garden was founded in 1812 by Kh. Kh. Steven near the village of Nikita (present-day Botanicheskoe), 7 km from Yalta. It consists of three divisions: Central (near Yalta), Primor’e (village of Frunzenskoe), and Steppe (village of Gvardeiskoe). The climate of the Central and Primor’e divisions is Mediterranean and subtropical. The chestnut, chestnut-brown, and humus-carbonate soils are characteristic of the dry subtropics. The Steppe division has soil and climate conditions typical of the arid southern steppes.

The Nikita Botanical Garden and its divisions cover an area of approximately 960 hectares (1973). There are extensive plant collections, representing almost 18,000 species, varieties, forms, hybrids, and strains. The herbarium has more than 102,000 leaves from wild and cultivated plants. There are 14 scientific sections and laboratories, dealing with flora and vegetation, dendrology and ornamental horticulture, southern and subtropical fruit crops, entomology, soil and climate research, physiology, and plant biochemistry.

The main purposes of the Nikita Botanical Garden are (1) to study the world’s plant resources and develop a scientific basis for the introduction and breeding of resistant and highly productive varieties of drupaceous fruits, subtropical and nut-yielding crops, and new aromatic, spice, ornamental, and flowering plants; (2) to utilize fully these plants and the natural Crimean flora; and (3) to conduct soil and climate research and develop methods of controlling plant pests and diseases on the basis of plant biology. A total of 110 plant varieties bred at the garden have been regionalized in the southern USSR. A number of monographs and specialized collections of scholarly articles have been published.

The Nikita Botanical Garden is visited every year by more than 600,000 people. Students acquire practical training and foreign scientists and specialists further their expertise there. The garden has a graduate school program. The Nikita Botanical Garden maintains contact with scientific organizations in more than 50 countries by exchanging seeds and literature. It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1962.