Jardin des Plantes Facts for Kids

The Mexican Hothouse, built in 1834–36, is an early example of French glass and metal architecture.

The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It's like a huge outdoor museum for plants! It's part of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, which is a big natural history museum. You can find it on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris. It covers a huge area, about 28 hectares, which is like 28 football fields!

This amazing garden is not just for looking at plants. It also has a special school that teaches people how to become botanists. These experts learn all about plants and how to protect the amazing variety of life on Earth, known as biodiversity.

The Jardin des Plantes also has a zoo! This zoo started way back during the French Revolution. It got its first animals from the royal palace at Versailles. The garden itself began even earlier, in 1626. By 1640, it was used to grow special herbs for the king's medicines.

Many important people helped the garden grow. One famous director, Comte de Buffon, made it much bigger and better. Later, during the French Revolution, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck changed its name from Jardin du Roi (King's Garden) to Jardin des Plantes (Garden of Plants). This helped keep the garden safe because it wasn't linked to the king anymore.

What You Can Explore
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What You Can Explore

The Jardin des Plantes is packed with exciting things to see and do. It's a place where you can learn about plants, animals, and the natural world.

Amazing Greenhouses

The garden has several beautiful greenhouses. These are like giant glass houses that keep plants warm and cozy. You can see plants from all over the world, including tropical plants and desert plants like cacti. It's like stepping into a different climate!

The Zoo

The zoo, called the Menagerie, is one of the oldest zoos in the world. It's home to many different animals, from small mammals to colorful birds. You can watch them play and learn about their lives.

Fascinating Galleries

The Jardin des Plantes is also home to several large galleries, which are like museums.

The Grand Gallery of Evolution shows how life on Earth has changed over millions of years. You'll see skeletons of huge animals and learn about species that are endangered or have disappeared, like the Dodo bird.
The Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology displays amazing rocks, minerals, and crystals from around the world. You can see how Earth's crust is formed.
The Gallery of Botany is all about plants! It has a huge collection of dried plant specimens, including a giant slice of a 2200-year-old Sequoia tree.
The Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy is filled with dinosaur skeletons and fossils. You can see how different animals are built and how they've evolved.

Special Gardens

Beyond the main pathways, there are many themed gardens:

The Alpine Garden has plants that grow in cold, mountainous regions.
The School of Botany Garden is where future botanists learn about different plant families.
There's even a Labyrinth with a tall structure called the Gloriette of Buffon at its center. From there, you get a great view of the garden.

Images for kids

Map of the Jardin des Plantes
Plan of the Jardin des Plantes from 1820
Map of the Jardin des Plantes
A fruiting tree of oranges
The garden in 1636
Statue of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the formal garden
The Sophora Jussieu, planted by Buffon in the garden in 1747
The Jardin des Plantes and Menagerie in 1842
Crowd outside the Palace of the Apes (c. 1900)
Rachel the elephant (c. 1905)
Courtyard of the Grand Gallery of Evolution
Parade of species in the Grand Gallery of Evolution
Reconstitution of a Dodo bird in section on endangered and disappeared species
Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology
Gallery of Botany
Slice of a giant Sequoia tree, 2200 years old, which fell naturally in 1917
Specimen of "Nepenthes Mirabilis" from the Herbier National
Gallery of Paleontology and comparative anatomy
A southern mammoth skeleton in the Gallery of Paleontoloogy and Comparative Anatomy
Skeleton of a Diprotodon
Platane planted by Buffon in 1785
The formal gardens
Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan', or Japanese cherry tree
Art Deco entrance of the "Jardin d'hiver" greenhouse (1937)
Path in interior of the "Jardin d'hiver" greenhouse
Interior of the "Jardin d'hiver" greenhouse
In the Alpine Garden
Ramonda myconi flower, from the Pyrenees
Portion of the Alpine Garden
School of Botany garden
The black pine of Laricio planted in the School of Botany garden in 1774
Garden of the School of Botany
Monument to garden director Bernardin de Saint-Pierre and his famous literary characters, "Paul et Virginie"
The Ginkgo biloba in the small labyrinth
Detail of the Ginkgo biloba
The Gloriette of Buffon
The view from the Gloriette and its iron columns
The Rotonda (1804-1812)
The shelter of horses, by Przewalski
A mongoose in the Jardin des Plantes
Flamingos in the Jardin des Plantes
Vicunas in the Jardin des Plantes
Ginkgo digitata found in Yorkshire, 170 million years old
Fossil leaves of Cordaites lungatus
Imprints of the extinct fern Pecopteris from Commentry, France (300 million years old),
Fossil leaves of Zamites feneonis
The Maison Buffon, residence of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
The Amphitheater (18th c.)
The Hôtel de Magny, the garden administration building
Artificial mountain in the Paris Zoological Park
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana tree in the Arboretum de Chèvreloup
View of the Jardin botanique exotique de Menton
Alpine Garden of Jaysinia in Haut-Savoie

Jardin des Plantes facts for kids

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