Botanical garden

Visitors come here to stroll in the shade of the bamboo grove or along the shaded paths of the English garden, admire the Martins greenhouse and its succulent plants, or daydream by the lotus pond, following in the footsteps of André Gide and Paul Valéry. Founded in 1593 by Henry IV, France's oldest botanical garden covers nearly 5 hectares in the heart of Montpellier. Attached to the Faculty of Medicine, this space, once entirely dedicated to research and teaching, continues to attract researchers from around the world. The Jardin des Plantes de Montpellier has been classified as a historic site (February 12, 1982) and protected as a Historic Monument since September 3, 1992.

Self-guided tours

Self-guided tours are only possible during public opening hours (see above). For pre-organized groups (schools, associations, public bodies, etc.), you must complete the self-guided tour form.

Guided tours

The staff at Montpellier Botanical Garden offer themed tours from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, in the morning between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m., and in the afternoon between 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. All tours are free and no registration is required. Please arrive 10 minutes early at the garden entrance on Boulevard Henri IV. A guide will contact you to finalize your tour.

Garden rental / Filming...

For any special requests (private or professional photos, filming, events, etc.), please contact the office by email at least three months before the desired date of your visit so that we can take care of the administrative details (authorization, organization, and agreement). In addition, since January 2014, a fee has been charged for any rental of the Garden.

The Jardin des Plantes yesterday and today

In 1593, with a view to promoting "health through plants," Henry IV entrusted Pierre Richer de Belleval, a professor of botany and anatomy, with the creation of a Royal Garden. Inspired by the "medical garden" in Padua, the Italian benchmark for gardens, the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier in turn became a model for the one in Paris.

When it was first created, the garden was intended for growing medicinal herbs. However, Richer's project quickly expanded beyond medicinal plants alone and became a valuable tool for botanical study, unprecedented at the time.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Montpellier's Jardin des Plantes was not only a scientific garden with an extensive collection of plants, but was also considered a pioneering garden in its approach to understanding the diversity of the plant world. To promote this diversity, it reproduced different environments (shaded, sunny, humid, sandy, stony, etc.) and dedicated special areas to exotic plants.

1st Garden (circa 1602)

The "Montagne de Richer" is the oldest part of the Garden. It served as a model for similar sites in several European gardens. Formed by a mound with five terraces on each side, it mainly featured local flora. The "medicinal garden" was once located on the site of the current cypress alley, known as the "Tuscan alley."

Unfortunately, this first garden was completely destroyed during the siege of Montpellier by Louis XIII in 1622. Today, only the "Mountain" remains.

2nd Garden (1622–1810)

From 1622 onwards, Richer de Belleval resumed his work and expanded the garden by purchasing land in the neighborhood. Later, these spaces were used as a trial garden by Pierre Magnol, plant demonstrator, then deputy intendant from 1694 to 1697. The school of systematics moved to this site in 1707 with its student Joseph Pitton de Tournefort.

In 1756, the first heated greenhouse was built in the Jardin des Plantes. At the end of the 18th century, Antoine Gouän, director of the garden, transported a cutting from his ginkgo tree, which became the symbol of the École de Santé, reborn after the Revolution. Built between 1802 and 1806, a beautiful orangery was designed by the famous architect Claude-Mathieu de la Gardette. In the 19th century, two greenhouses were added to the Jardin's facilities.

Third garden (1810–1860)

During the 19th century, the historic garden was expanded twice, more than doubling in size. With these new spaces, the creation of the English garden became possible in 1860. The director at the time, Charles Martins, had a temperate greenhouse built there and a pond dug for lotus flowers, known as the "Nelumbo Lake."

Beyond this basin is an astronomy pavilion called the "Algerian marabout." This small observatory has never been used as such, but only for spectroscopic studies.

The Jardin des Plantes today

The Jardin des Plantes now covers an area of 4.5 hectares, with a greenhouse area of 688 square meters and an orangery of 267 square meters. The garden has a total of 2,679 species.

The Montpellier Botanical Garden has three main purposes:

Botanical garden

The botanical garden differs from a traditional garden in its collections, its display of living plants, and its well-identified seeds, whether rare or common. The action program of such a garden is part of the plan of the European Botanical Gardens Consortium (BGCI/IABG).

Intended for scientific research, the garden serves as a center for taxonomic and horticultural studies open to international cooperation. To best protect the scientific heritage of the Jardin des Plantes, its staff are implementing measures to enrich and preserve the living (plants) and inanimate (books, written documents, iconography, herbarium) collections.

Historic garden

With over four centuries of history, the Garden is now protected as a historic site and monument. In this context, the protection and enhancement of the buildings plays an important role in the life of the Garden. Heritage conservation involves maintenance and restoration, but also strict regulations on public visits.

University garden

Since its creation in 1596, the Jardin des Plantes has had close ties with the University due to its specialization in the field of medicinal plants. Dedicated to higher education, the Garden regularly welcomes students working on their theses and dissertations.
In an effort to bring scientific knowledge to the general public, the staff of the Jardin des Plantes develop educational activities for different segments of the population.

The collections of the Jardin des Plantes

Candolle's school of systematics

The School of Systematics is a teaching site where plants are grouped by botanical family. 250 species are located in a protected area due to their fragility. Unable to withstand excessive visitor traffic, Candolle's School of Systematics is open exclusively for scheduled group visits.

The collection of rockroses

Cistus are Mediterranean scrubland plants known for their resistance to arid conditions. At Montpellier's Jardin des Plantes, around ten species and their hybrids, created by crossing closely related species, grow on the southern slope of Montagne de Richer. Remarkable for their flowering, rockroses decorate the Jardin des Plantes with large white or yellow flowers from April onwards.

Medicinal plants

The medicinal plant collection is currently being developed. This project aims to bring together the main recognized French medicinal plants to support the teaching provided by the Faculty of Pharmacy. The 164 species planned will occupy the "medicinal garden" of the School of Systematics. They will only be accessible to the public during guided tours.

Trees

The Montpellier Botanical Garden is home to more than 170 trees, most of which are grouped together in the 19th-century arboretum. The trees constitute a remarkable collection due to the age and size of certain specimens, such as the pecan tree, the ginkgo, the Osage orange tree, and the mountain phyllirea. The interest of certain trees, such as the Atlas cypress, the false kermes oak, and the alligator juniper, lies less in their size than in their rarity in collections and their botanical interest.

Succulent plants

Succulents are fleshy plants, the most popular of which are cacti. The collection at Montpellier's Jardin des Plantes comprises 400 species and was started in 2011 with donations from collectors and botanical gardens. Succulents are known not only for their resistance to arid climates but also for their dazzling blooms. In some species of cactus, the flowers are much larger than the plant that bears them.

The palm trees

Until the early 2000s, palm trees occupied a prominent place in the Jardin des Plantes. In particular, two beautiful rows of Chinese hemp palms bordered the English garden on one side and the School of Systematics on the other. In 2006, they fell victim to the Argentine moth, whose caterpillar feeds exclusively on the heart of palm trees, leading to their death. Since then, the number of palm trees has declined and now stands at only 36 species, visible in all areas of the Jardin des Plantes.

Naturalized plants

Refugees in various parts of the Jardin des Plantes, the nine species of naturalized plants come from all corners of the world (Carolina modiole, Greek micromeria, Sicilian snapdragon, etc.). The most remarkable of the naturalized plants is the Oriental comfrey, native to Turkey. Naturalized since 1930, it is the dominant plant in the undergrowth in spring, with its abundant white flowers. Since then, it has spread to other green spaces in Montpellier.

Entomological fauna

The Jardin des Plantes is home to a wide variety of insects that play a vital role in transporting pollen from flower to flower. In addition to these pollinating insects, there are also many enemies of cultivated plants: insect pests. Among the most impressive insects is the carpenter bee, with its massive purple body. It does not hesitate to pierce the base of flowers to get at their nectar. Peaceful by nature, it likes to "get acquainted" by flying over the face of the person observing it. In August, the carpenter bee changes from purple to yellow as it becomes covered in pollen from the flowers it visits.

The Index Seminum

The Montpellier Botanical Garden is part of a seed exchange network with 500 other botanical institutions in France and 80 other countries. Seeds are harvested regularly in the garden, as well as in the wild around Montpellier. The Index Seminum is a catalog of these seeds, published every two years and exclusively reserved for other botanical gardens.