Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”
The Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”, situated in Tafira Alta, at only seven kilometers from the Capital, is one of the most attractive places in the Canary Islands.
It belongs to the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and offers people the opportunity to visit and enjoy its installations throughout the year. At the present time, it is devoted to the cataloguing, compiling, growing, study and conservation of the magnificent Canarian flora. In this archipelago there are about 2000 plant species of which more than 500 are endemic to the Islands.
The Canarian flora is unique in the world as it has disappeared from its continental places of origin, surviving only in the Canary Islands as a relict of previous geological eras. All this can be seen as a tunnel of time in the Jardín Botánico Canario “Viera y Clavijo”, which, having an area of 27 hectares, is the largest in Spain.
A walk through the garden
Plaza de Viera y Clavijo (Viera y Clavijo Square)
The Garden is reached by the Autovía del Centro which directly leads to the Plaza de Viera y Clavijo, in whose centre stands a bust of this illustrious naturalist and historian of the XVIII century.
Jardín de las Islas (The Islands Garden)
This is situated between the palm trees area and the garden of succulent plants. Around a central lawn, there are different rock areas, where the species are grouped according to their island of origin.
Jardín de Cactus y Suculentas (Cacti and succulent plants Garden)
The number of species of succulent plants throughout the world is estimated at about 10.000. In this Garden you will be able to admire around 2.000 examples which represent a wide and universal selection of these species.
Jardín Macaronésico Ornamental (Ornamental Macaronesian Garden)
This is located around the Plaza de Fernando Navarro, next to the nursery and “the wooden bridge”.
Endemic plants with a high ornamental value can be admired here.
El Jardín Escondido (The Hidden Garden)
A small greenhouse with a high concentration of humidity reproduces a tropical environment.
It was created as a tribute to Zoë Bramwell’s everlasting memory.
El Puente de Piedra (The Stone Bridge)
This beautiful bridge was built as a replica to the old stone one which once crossed the Barranco de Guiniguada (Guiniguada Ravine) in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, linking the neighbourhoods/quarters of Triana and Vegueta.
La Fuente de los Sabios (The Fountain of the Wise)
The naturalists represented here are Joseph Bormüller, Charles-Josef Pitard, Karl A. Bolle, Auguste M. Broussonet, Sabin Berthelot, Phillip Barker Webb, Christen Smith, Ramon Masferrer, Hermann Christ and Oscar Burchard, all of them contributors of important studies to the flora of the Islands.
El Pinar (The Pinewood)
On the left side of the Barranco de Guiniguada, which crosses the Garden, two areas of Canarian pine forest can be found.
Bosque de Laurisilva (Laurisilva Forest)
Between the Exhibition Centre and the Fuente de los Sabios, a beautiful sample of this forest where many trees, shrubs and herbs live together in harmony. The trees which can be admired here planted in 1964.
Plaza Matías Vega (Matías Vega Square)
Outstanding here is the splendid Canarian palm tree (Phoenix canariensis), an endemic and symbolic plant of the Canary Islands.
El Alpendre (The Farm Tool Shed)
The alpendre is a Canarian traditional building constructed prior to the creation of the Garden in 1952 and which was restored in 1989. Inside the Alpendre several traditional farm tools can be found.
Plaza de los Nenúfares (The Waterlilies Square)
In this a occasional events are take place such as concert, folk dances, prize-giving ceremonies together with other cultural activities. The Plaza de los Nenúfares is the official meeting point of the garden.
Activities
Research
Scientific research on endemic Canarian plants is carried out from several different angles: taxonomy (classification), biodiversity, macro- and micromorphology, palynology (study of pollen), cytogenetics and chromosomes, floral and seed biology etc., genetic diversity (molecular studies of isoenzymes and DNA) and reproductive biology. The research is directed towards understanding relationships with other floras, origin and evolution of the Canarian flora as well as the evaluation of the current state of natural populations. These approaches constitute “conservation biology” and unify information about the structure and dynamics of species and their populations, This allows the establishment of an adequate basis and strategy for Conservation Plans for the recovery of the many endangered endemics in the Canary Islands.
Conservation
One of the principal techniques used for the ex situ conservation of endangered species is the Seed Bank. Since 1983 the Garden has been developing such a seed bank for the Canarian endemic flora and for the floras of the other islands of the Macaronesian region. It currently holds more than 2000 samples of wild seeds from about 400 endemic species. These are conserved in the appropriate conditions of low humidity and temperature necessary to prolong their viable lifespan. It is thus possible to have material available for propagation and cultivation, research and scientific exchange via the Seed List of the Ibero-Macaronesian Association of the Botanical Gardens. Seed Banks permit the storage of a large number of populations and a wide spectrum of genetic variability of each species in a reduced space and are fundamental for the reintroduction and management of highly threatened taxa.
More information:
Jardín Botánico Canario "Viera y Clavijo"
Apartado 14. Tafira Alta
35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Telephone: (+34) 928 219 580
E-mail: jardincanario@grancanaria.com
