The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation that was founded in 1670 as a physic garden. Today it occupies four sites across Scotland, in Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore, each with its own special collections. The gardens in Edinburgh have areas devoted to the cultivation of particular plant needs, including alpine, palm, tropical and arid, plus regional collections from China, New Guinea and SE Asia. Dawyck, in the borders, specialises in hardy plants from drier climates, Benmore in the west features conifers and rhododendrons from high rainfall areas, whilst Logan in the south-west , is known as Scotland’s most exotic garden, growing many temperate southern hemisphere plants.
The Living collections contains 40421 plants and 11171 taxa.