Tbilisi Botanical Garden

(full name, Central Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR), part of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR since 1943.

Located in the city of Tbilisi, the botanical garden was founded in 1845 as the successor to the palace (“fortress”) garden, which had existed since 1625. The total area is 161 hectares (1975). The collection of trees, shrubs, and flowering herbaceous plants includes 4,588 species and varieties (1975). The genera that are most completely represented are Cotoneaster, Pyracantha, Lonicera, Berberís, Crataegus, Cedrus, Philadelphus, Abies, Pinus, and Cupressus. The botanical garden has seven scientific departments, including departments for the introduction and selective breeding of woody plants (with a plant protection group), ornamental horticulture (including floriculture), and park construction and landscape gardening. The botanical garden coordinates the activities of the botanical gardens of Transcaucasia, conducts exchange of seeds and herbarium materials with more than 70 of the largest foreign botanical gardens and arboretums. Research results have been published in the garden’s Trudy (Transactions) since 1894. A Seed Index for exchange is published annually.