University Herbal Garden

University Herbal Garden has been established and maintained by Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore with the funding support of RUSA 2.0 Bharathiar Cancer Theranostics and Research Center (BCTRC), to check on the feasibility and review on the practical, economic and social constraints in establishment of the garden at the university premises. Fortunately, the venture has emerged to be a successful model and presently the herbal garden hosts nearly 150 rare, endemic and endangered plant species that form the foundation for extrapolating the natural diversity into a botanical garden in a holistic manner. Generally, a botanical garden shall include arboretums, glass houses, green houses, shade houses, aquatic habitat mimics etc. At the herbal garden established in the Bharathiar University, medicinal plants are planted in ground raised beds as the garden is at the footbeds of Maruthamalai hills, a diversity rich area of Western ghats. The following objectives were aimed to be addressed as a model for higher level establishment of botanical garden at Bharathiar University. 

• To popularize the usefulness of the commonly available and utilized medicinal herbs and to conserve the associated traditional knowledge for future generations.
• To inculcate a sense of familiarity with surrounding biodiversity and its conservation for sustainable use of bio resources.
• To provide easy exchange of ethnic knowledge of herbs into the academic curriculum and integration of our traditional medicinal practices into scientifically valid systems of medicine.
• To provide recreational services to lay public and natural therapies regarding aromatherapy, stress reduction, integration of human senses to natural vibrations.

The herbal garden presently is a model as mentioned earlier and necessary efforts have been taken to assess the overall performance and feasibility with respect to average rainfall, utilization of ground water, adaptation of in situ conserved plants in the transplanted areas etc. Hence, it is a well-planned initiative after proper SWOT analyses that will be very much effective in establishing the botanical gardens with diverse and functional individual compartments for different varieties and categories of plants like herbs, shrubs, trees, orchids, primitive plants etc.