KOISHIKAWA BOTANICAL GARDEN

Japanese Koishikawa Shokubutsuen, botanical garden and arboretum maintained by Tokyo University. It has more than 6,000 different plant species under cultivation on its 16-hectare (40-acre) site in Tokyo. Among its most notable outdoor collections are camellias, cherries, maples, Japanese primroses, bonsai trees, and alpine plants. One of the most important features of the garden is the arboretum, which abounds in coniferous and broadleaf tree species from East Asia as well as in many exotic varieties from other regions of the world. The large herbarium of Tokyo University, consisting of 1,250,000 dried reference specimens, is being gradually transferred from the university's botanical museum to Koishikawa Botanical Garden. Established in 1638 by the Tokugawa shogunate to grow medicinal herbs, the garden was reorganized into its present form in 1873 and was taken over by the Faculty of Science of Tokyo University four years later. Koishikawa Botanical Garden has a branch garden, 10.5 hectares (26 acres) in size, in Nikko, Tochigi prefecture. The Nikko garden specializes in alpine plants but also has excellent collections of Japanese species and such varieties as cherries and rhododendrons.