National Museum of Natural Science Botanical Garden Introduction
The National Museum of Natural Science features several exhibition areas related to plants, including a herb garden, eight outdoor exhibition areas in the botanical garden, and a tropical rainforest greenhouse. The outdoor exhibition area for traditional Chinese medicine in the Humanity Culture Hall (formerly the Chinese Science Hall) showcases over a hundred live medicinal plants. Each type of herb on display comes with an explanation plate that introduces its correct scientific name and therapeutic effects. The botanical garden, covering an area of approximately 4.9 hectares, focuses on the unique ecosystems of Taiwan's low-elevation areas and tropical rainforests. Careful consideration and selection were given to several representative local ecological zones to create landscapes that display both interest and characteristics. It includes eight distinct areas: the uplifted coral reef ecological area, the Orchid Island ecological area, the coastal forest ecological area, the Taitung cycad ecological area, the northern low-elevation ecological area, the central low-elevation ecological area, the southern low-elevation ecological area, and the monsoon rainforest ecological area. A variety of indigenous species, including trees, shrubs, herbs, and ferns, have been chosen, totaling over 800 species across the garden (including the greenhouse). The tropical rainforest greenhouse is a unique glass structure designed in the style of a pagoda, standing about 40 meters high. It showcases a range of both useful and ornamental plants, simulating the environmental characteristics of tropical rainforests, such as super tall trees, riverbank rainforests, rainforest floors, and lowland tropical rainforests, with approximately 400 species of plants on display.
