Kunming Botanical Garden 昆明植物园

About Kunming Botanical Garden

The garden focuses on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and the Hengduan mountains, facing the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas, with an emphasis on rescuing critically small wild-plant populations and collecting nationally protected and rare or endangered wild-plant germplasm. It has built 28 specialised gardens and display areas, among them a rock garden, a bamboo garden, an aquatic plants garden, the China-Uzbekistan Global Allium Garden, a rhododendron garden, a magnolia garden, a witch-hazel garden, an oak garden, a gymnosperm garden and the Fuligong greenhouse complex, which includes a cryptogam museum, an alpine-plant museum, an orchid museum and a carnivorous-plant museum. Across its Kunming and Lijiang campuses the garden holds 11,066 living plant species, of which 9,937 are wild-origin species.

Among its specialised gardens, the Camellia Garden was established in 1950 as the garden's first, and is described as China's collection with the most Yunnan camellia varieties and the longest history, holding the International Camellia Garden of Excellence title among about 20 honorary designations the wider garden has received. It is divided into eight zones, including an East China camellia zone, a Camellia sasanqua zone, a Yunnan camellia zone, a premium-cultivar zone, an international friendship camellia garden, a wild-germplasm collection zone and a golden-camellia conservation greenhouse. In 2001 the garden built what the institute's own account calls the country's first plant science-popularisation museum, upgraded in 2020, and added a seed museum and a biodiversity book bar in 2021; in October 2022 its Fuligong Biodiversity Experience Garden was designated a permanent achievement-display site of the Convention on Biological Diversity's 15th Conference of the Parties.

What to look for

• The Camellia Garden, established in 1950 and divided into eight zones including a Yunnan camellia zone and a golden-camellia conservation greenhouse.
• The Fuligong greenhouse complex, with its cryptogam, alpine-plant, orchid and carnivorous-plant museums.
• The rock garden, bamboo garden and China-Uzbekistan Global Allium Garden among the collection's other specialised gardens.
• The garden's seed museum and biodiversity book bar, added in 2021.

Location & getting there

Getting to Kunming Botanical Garden

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

• Search for 昆明植物园 with 昆明市 and 五华区.