Taipei Botanical Garden - 台北植物園

(Polskich czytelników zapraszam również na mój wpis ze spaceru po ogrodzie botanicznym w lecie zeszłego roku - Spacerkiem po Ogrodzie Botanicznym.)

Tuesday afternoon in the Botanical Garden was very busy. Many people were enjoying the day without rain by taking a walk in the garden.

The Botanical Garden is located right in the city center, close to the residence of the Taiwanese president. There is also a radio station （National Education Radio 教育電台) and a museum (National Museum of History 國立歷史博物館) next to the park.
The closest MRT Station is Xiaonanmen 捷運小南門站. From there it's just a short walk on Boai Rd. 博愛路 to the entrance to the garden. There are also other gates - on Sec.2 Heping W.Rd 和平西路二段, Nanhai Rd. 南海路 and Lane 205, Yanping S.Rd. 延平南路205巷.

There are many different areas in the Botanical Garden: one that has plants typical to Taiwan, another one with plants of Chinese Zodiac or Chinese idioms, there are also areas with succulent plants, dicotyledons, water plants, bamboos and many more. In a very small area one can enjoy all different kinds of plants.

Take a look at what we've seen:

Araucaria - Araukaria has interesting looking seeds and grows very fast.

Tree cotton - Bawełna afrykańska/drzewiasta 

Rose apple - Czapetka jambos has edible fruits.

a.k.a. Aiphanes Horrida - Arekowiec (rodzaj palmy kokosowej) - try hugging this tree!

a.k.a. Glebionis Coronaria - Crown daisy - Złocień wieńcowy
Finally I know what the green leaf veggie that we add to the hot pot is called!
So far I only knew it by it's Taiwanese name.

Pinus morrisonicola - Taiwan white pine - gatunek sosny - This pine tree is endemic to Taiwan.

Elephant apple - Ukęśla indyjska

Elephant apple fruits are great for playing soccer.

Sarracenia - 瓶子草 - Kapturnica and some Airplants - Tillandsia - 空氣鳳梨 - Oplątwy

The next photo shows a very interesting invention: an endemic to Taiwan bird, Taiwan barbet 五色鳥, can only make home in dry/soft wood. Because nowadays all the dried out trees are taken away from parks in the city, in the botanical garden some logs have been tied to trees to encourage the barbets to build their homes there. And it's working! Isn't it a wonderful idea? 

Kids were also shown one of the logs with a hole which once was barbet's home.
It turned out the hole was very deep. 

Kingfisher - 翠鳥 - Alcedo atthis - Zimorodek

Gray treepie - 樹鵲 - Dentrocitta formosae - Srokówka maskowa

Common gallinule - 黑水雞 - Gallinula chloropus - Kurka wodna

Everybody knows what kind of animal this is :-)

Green pond frog - 金線蛙 - Pelophylax fukienensis

Japanese house and garden.

You can find all kinds of people in the botanical garden - there are those who come to take photos and those who like to paint nature. 

Botanical garden is a nice park right in the city center. We will visit it again soon.