The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a world-class center for botanical and horticultural research, conservation and education. A group of “public-spirited citizens” established the botanic gardens in 1859. After being handed over to the colonial government in the late 1870s when Singapore was part of British Malaya, the park was used to support the colony’s rubber plantation industry.
For the past 94 years, researchers in the botanic gardens have bred orchids, Singapore’s national flower. The Gardens’ orchids include the Dendrobium Kaneko Ikeda, an orchid breed named after Kaneko Ikeda in recognition of her efforts for world peace.
In 2015, the Gardens became the first and only tropical botanic garden on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for its outstanding landscape and notable continuity of purpose.
—Prepared by the World Tribune staff
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