[DOCID:186873tx_xxx-5]
From the Government Manual Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 45-46]
UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN
Office of Executive Director, 245 First Street SW., Washington, DC 20024
Phone, 202-225-8333. Internet, www.aoc.gov.
Conservatory, Maryland Avenue, First to Second Streets SW., Washington,
DC 20024
Phone, 202-225-6647
Production Facility, 4700 Shepherd Parkway SW., Washington, DC 20032
Phone, 202-563-2220
Director (Architect of the Capitol) Alan M. Hantman
Executive Director (vacancy)
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The United States Botanic Garden informs visitors about the aesthetic,
cultural, economic, therapeutic, and ecological importance of plants to
the well-being of humankind.
The U.S. Botanic Garden carries out its mission by presenting artistic
displays of plants, exhibits, and a program of educational activities;
promoting botanical knowledge through the cultivation of an ordered
collection of plants; fostering plant conservation by acting as a
repository for endangered species; and growing plants for the
beautification of the Capitol complex. Uniquely situated at the heart of
the U.S. Government, the Botanic Garden seeks to promote the exchange of
ideas and information relevant to this mission among national and
international visitors and policymakers.
Collections of the U.S. Botanic Garden include orchids, epiphytes,
bromeliads, carnivorous plants, ferns, cycads, cacti, succulents,
medicinal plants, rare and endangered plants, and plants valued as
sources of food, beverages, fibers, and other industrial products.
The U.S. Botanic Garden is currently undergoing a significant
expansion and transformation. The Conservatory, one of the largest
structures of its kind in this country, closed to the public on
September 2, 1997, for a complete renovation. In addition to upgraded
amenities for visitors, it will feature 12 new exhibit and plant display
areas interpreting plants in their relationship to humankind and to the
environment. The Conservatory is expected to reopen in the year 2001.
Construction for the National Garden, a 3-acre site just west of the
Conservatory, is scheduled for 2001. This new public facility will
feature a First Ladies water garden, a formal rose garden, a showcase
garden displaying the outstanding native plants of the Mid-Atlantic
region in naturalistic settings, and the Senator John Heinz
Environmental Learning Center.
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Outdoor plantings are showcased in Bartholdi Park, a home landscape
demonstration area. Each of the displays is sized and scaled for
suitability in an urban or suburban house site. The gardens display
ornamental plants that perform well in this region arrayed in a variety
of styles and themes. Also located in this park is Bartholdi Fountain,
created by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904), sculptor of the
Statue of Liberty.
The Botanic Garden makes available many rare and interesting
botanical specimens for study to students, botanists, and
floriculturists . In addition to educational programs and special
exhibits, a horticultural hotline is available to answer questions from
the public.
The U.S. Botanic Garden was founded in 1820 under the auspices of
the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, an
organization that was the outgrowth of an association known as the
Metropolitan Society and that received its charter from Congress on
April 20, 1818. The Garden continued under the direction of this
Institute until 1837, when the Institute ceased to exist as an active
organization.
The Botanic Garden remained abandoned until 1842, when it became
necessary for the Government to provide accommodations for the botanical
collections brought to Washington, DC, from the South Seas by the U.S.
Exploring Expedition of 1838-42, under the leadership of Capt. Charles
Wilkes. The collections were placed temporarily on exhibition at the
Patent Office upon return of the expedition in June 1842. The first
greenhouse for this purpose was constructed in 1842 on a lot behind the
Patent Office Building under the direction and control of the Joint
Committee of Congress on the Library, from funds appropriated by
Congress.
The act of May 15, 1850 (9 Stat. 427), provided for the relocation
of the Botanic Garden under the direction of the Joint Committee on the
Library. The site selected was on The Mall at the west end of the
Capitol Grounds, practically the same site the Garden occupied during
the period it functioned under the Columbia Institute. This site was
later enlarged, and the main area continued to serve as the principal
Botanic Garden site from 1850 to 1933, when the Garden was relocated to
its present site.
Although the Botanic Garden began functioning as a Government-owned
institution in 1842, the records indicate that it was not until 1856
that the maintenance of the Garden was specifically placed under the
direction of the Joint Committee on the Library and a regular, annual
appropriation was provided by Congress (11 Stat. 104).
At the present time the Joint Committee exercises its supervision
through the Architect of the Capitol, who has been serving as Acting
Director since 1934.
For further information concerning the United States Botanic Garden,
contact the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, U.S. Capitol
Building, Washington, DC 20515. Phone, 202-228-1793. Horticulture
Hotline, 202-563-1222. Internet, www.aoc.gov.
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