Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne is located on the south bank of the Yarra River near downtown. Covering an area of ​​38 hectares there are about 10 thousand species of plants, representing both the local, Australian and world flora. The Royal Botanic Gardens are considered the best in Australia and one of the best in the world. Great importance and long-term activity Gardens breeding species imported into the continent.

45 km south-west of Melbourne in the suburb of Kranburn is a branch of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which occupies 363 hectares and grows mostly native plants in a special section of the Australian Garden, opened in 2006 and has been awarded a number of botanic awards.

In the Melbourne Botanical Gardens are located next to a group of parks known as the parks. It includes the Kings Domaine Parks, Gardens and Alexandra Gardens, Queen Victoria.

The history of the Royal Botanic Gardens dates back to the mid-19th century, when shortly after the founding of Melbourne on the marshy banks of the Yarra River, it was decided to establish a botanical collection. First, the gardens were a herbarium, but in 1873 the new director William Guilfoyle changed the face of the garden, turning it into a beautiful place to stroll and landed here plant tropical and temperate zones.

Today, in the botanical garden you can see some exhibits, the relevant geographical areas of the earth: The Australian Forest, California Garden, New Zealand Collection, the South China Gardens and others. There are growing eucalyptus trees, a variety of cacti and succulents, roses, camellias, ferns, oaks and many other representatives of the world's flora.

One of the most famous trees in the garden is a so-called tree branch - 300-year-old eucalyptus Prirechny under which once Victoria was declared independent colony. In August 2010, a tree mutilated by vandals, and still do not know whether it can recover.

From the earliest days of its founding Royal Botanic Gardens are engaged in work on the study and identification of plants by creating the National Herbarium of Victoria. Today, in the Herbarium contains about 1, 2 million copies of dried plants, as well as an extensive collection of books, magazines and videos on botanical subjects. And recently there was established the Australian Research Centre Urban Ecology, which oversees the plants growing in urban ecosystems.