Imperial palm trees in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Brazil
Imperial palm trees in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Brazil (© Marcia Silva de Mendonca/Getty Images)
Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
Rio de Janeiro's Botanical Gardens, one of the first planned botanical gardens in Brazil, was established during the colonial period and contains more than 8,000 species of plants, many of them rare, most of which are cultivated in greenhouses, several of which are modeled after the natural growth of wild species. The picture shows one of the famous avenues, the Royal Palm Avenue, which consists of 134 palm trees and is about 750 meters (2,460 feet) long, leading the way from the entrance to the gardens.
The Orchid Garden and the Cactus Garden in the Botanical Gardens are not to be missed. The Orchid Garden has been collecting orchids since the end of the 19th century, and today there are about 600 different species, most of which are native to Brazil. The Cactus Garden is the most attractive in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, with about 400 different species, all collected since 1910. The “Cactus Garden” was also established to provide cacti for medical research and to maintain a seed bank for different cactus species.
© Marcia Silva de Mendonca/Getty Images