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The Fomin Botanical Garden is one of the oldest botanical institutions in our country.
From the very beginning of its foundation and during the whole century
it has been the main centre of botanical science developement in Ukraine. It was
founded on May 22, 1839. The famous scientists, such as O.Rogovich, I. Borschov, I. Shmalgausen, N. Cholodny
and others had been working in the Garden. Many scientific achievements of the Garden are widely known in Ukraine and abroad and some of them
have gone down into the world science history. For example, the double fertilization in angiosperm plants
was described by the academician Navashin, who was the garden director at the 19th century.
For a long period(1914-1935) the Botanical Garden had been headed by Academician Olexander Fomin,
whose floristical research work is widely known. To commemorate Academician O.V. Fomin's contribution into the development of botanical science as well
as into preserving and enriching the collection funds, his name was given to the Botanical Garden in 1935.
Now the Fomin Botanical Garden is a research institution of Kyiv University. It is subdivided into four scientific sections:dendrology, herb introduction,
tropical and subtropical plant introduction, physiology and biochemistry of plants introductors. It also has the
Botanical Museum, seeds laboratory, scientific library. The collection funds of the Botanical Garden amounts
to 10000 species, varietes, forms and kinds of arboretous and herbaceous plants. There is a large greenhouse complex in the Botanical Garden where are
represented more than 4000 taxons of tropical and subtropical plants. Some of them are more than 100 years old.
Namely the 200 years old specimen of Livistona australis and others. The Botanical Garden has the largest collection of succulents in Ukraine. Now it amounts to
2500 species. The Botanical Garden maintains wide scientific exchange of sowing and planting material obtained from
plants introductors with many botanical institutions not only in Ukraine but in foreign countries as well;
it also carries on an exange items with 200 botanical institutions from 52 foreign states thus getting about 3000 specimens of seeds annualy.
The main tasks facing the Botanical Garden are the following: 1. to enrich and preserve in artificial conditions collections of natural plants preserving world flora,
especially rare and disapearing species; 2. to carry out scientific and research work dealt with the theoretical and practical problems of plant introduction and acclimatization;
3. to carry out instructive work among the citizens of Kyiv and Ukraine spreading knowledge of botany, nature protection,
decorative gardening and plant-growing. Director: Vasiliy Kapustian, Candidate of Agriculture Science tel.:+38(044) 234-29-06
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