All about Regional Roger Orellana Botanical Garden in Mérida

Founded in 1983, the CICY botanical garden showcases the local flora of the Yucatán Peninsula. The full name is Roger Orellana Regional Botanical Garden.

The 2.7-hectare (27,000 square meters) botanical garden is located in an old henequén planting site in the Pinzón II district in the north of Mérida, about 2 km west of the Mayan World Museum.

Declared a "Living Plants Museum" (Museo Vivo de Plantas) in 1999 by the federal government, the botanical garden was also recognized as a "Center for Wildlife Management and Conservation" (Unidad de Manejo para la Conservación de Vida Silvestre) in 2002.

CICY

The botanical garden is run by the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán (CICY), a well-known research center founded in 1976 and located in the southern part of Mérida, near the Periférico.

CICY is a hub for scientific work in areas like environmental science, biotechnology, and sustainable development. It plays an important role in advancing research and innovation in the region.

What Will You See?

The research garden includes more than 800 plant species (700 plant species native to the Yucatán Peninsula and more than 100 exotic plant species from other states or countries).

There are also more than 80 species of birds (like tropical kingbirds, social flycatchers, hummingbirds or grosbeaks) and, depending on the season, butterflies everywhere.

In the "selva seca", the dry forest collection, for example, you can see motmots (the characteristic bird of this part of Yucatán) and hummingbird nests. There are also different types of forests, mangroves and coastal dunes that can only be found on the Yucatán Peninsula.

The plants are organized according to scientific criteria. There are name tags and additional information about the different plants. There are also places where you can sit and rest for a while, for example by a small lake in the complex.

Entrance to the Garden

The website gives the main address of the CICY. However, the entrance to the garden is on Calle 49 between Calle 36 and Calle 38. The themed tours not only give you information about the flora and fauna, but also about folklore and myths related to the land and its nature.

The botanical garden is only open Mondays to Thursdays, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Admission is free. Guided tours can be arranged by appointment (with a minimum of 10 people). You can make a reservation by phone, call (999) 942 8330 ext. 234.

Background Information on Botanical Gardens

There are around 1,800 botanical gardens worldwide. The oldest botanical garden is located in Padua, Italy and was founded in 1545. The largest is in Beijing, China and covers 40 hectares.

Originally, botanical gardens were reserved for rulers, kings and emperors. In the Middle Ages, they were valuable for teaching and medicine. The colonial rulers used them to establish large plantations of introduced species in the conquered countries.

Today, botanical gardens are intended to help preserve the country's plant diversity and raise public awareness of the importance of this diversity. The botanical garden of the CICY is one of four botanical gardens on the Yucatán Peninsula.

It is represented in the Mexican Association of Botanical Gardens (AMJB). There are a total of 40 botanical gardens in the scientific association, which integrates all of Mexico's botanical gardens.

Image Source (main image): ©CICY, wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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