Page 178 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

176  CUBA REGION B Y REGION

8 Jardín Botánico Soledad

In 1901 Edwin Atkins, owner of the Soledad sugar works
15 km (9 miles) from Cienfuegos, transformed 4 ha (10 acres)
of his estate into a sugar cane research centre, and filled the
garden with a great number of tropical plants. In 1919 the
University of Harvard bought the property and founded a
botanical institute for the study of sugar cane and tropical
flora. The botanical garden has been run by the Cuban
government since 1961, and is one of the largest in Latin
America, with a surface area of 94 ha (232 acres) and more
than 1,400 different species of plant, including 195 palms.
Besides the endemic species there are also huge bamboo
trees. Guided tours, made partly on foot and partly by car, Medicinal Plants
reveal the exceptional diversification of the garden. Indigenous plants with healing
properties, such as aloe vera, are
grown in this plot.

KEY
1 Protected woodland
2 Forest plants
3 Leguminous plants
4 Laboratory
5 Ticket office, library

. Banyan Tree
Among over 50 varieties of fig in the
botanical garden, perhaps the most
striking is a huge Ficus benghalensis or
banyan tree, a species with aerial roots
(with a circumference of over 20 m/65 ft).
The roots, trunks and branches form
an impenetrable barrier.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp259–60 and pp273–4

176-177_EW_Cuba.indd 176 14/02/17 11:36 am