ABSTRACT

Botanic gardens present us with spaces such as we would never find in agricultural or urban environments, or even in untouched nature, since it is unlikely that one would find such concentrations of diverse species, and, furthermore, from all over the world, in such limited spaces of the natural environment. There certainly are significant differences in attitude when we move from conceiving botanic gardens as sites designed and stocked for the recuperation of the complete prelapsarian flora, to perceiving them as living botanic encyclopedias, and from there to seeing them as entertaining displays in kaleidoscopic theme parks. Others, in contrast, agree that botanic gardens should be active players in an integrated strategy for plant conservation, but seek to reorient the focus of the management of these sites. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the ways in which botanic gardens may be seen to contribute toward seeing plants as subjects rather than as mere objects.