El Real Jardin Botanico de Madrid and the Glorious History of Botany in Spain

A view of the Madrid Botanic Garden in summer. Except where noted otherwise, the photographs accompanying this artzcle were taken by the author. Linna°us’s acerbic, though at the time apt, observation soon would be out of date, however, because of the zeal with which late-Eighteenth Century Spain took to botany and natural history. The result of my research, reported here, is the story of Madrid’s Royal Botanic GardenEl Real Jardin Botanico de Madrid-from its humble inception as a Court curiosity tended by an eager coterie of physicians and intellectuals ; through its later development into a thriving center of learning, plant exploration, international cooperation, and research; its subsequent decline during the Nineteenth Century and continuing decay during the better part of the Twentieth Century; and its recent restoration and reestablishment as an important Spanish institution of research and learning, a fitting symbol of post-Franco Spain. I emphasize here the early history of the Garden, a fifty-year period studded with exciting exploration for exotic plants in Spain’s overseas colonies. Aside from the Garden’s