The Çukurova University Botanical Garden, Turkey Volume 3 Number
5 - December 2000 Prof. Dr. Erdogan Gültekin The first attempt
to set up a botanic garden in Turkey was in about 1949 with the
establishment of an Arboretum in Bahçeköy near Istanbul with the
support of the University of Istanbul Faculty of Forestry. In
spite of the rich biodiversity and high number of species both
in flora and fauna in Turkey, the number of botanical gardens
are quite few. Early initiatives for a botanical garden at
Çukurova University took place in 1972. . Some activities such
as corresponding with some foreign countries were carried out by
the Department of Landscape Architecture between 1973-1978.
After collecting a variety of plant seeds from different
countries and also from the mainland, some successful results
were obtained with some outdoor plants such as Bauhinia
variegata, Parkinsonia aculeata, Duranta repens and Cassia
tomentosa which gave impetus for the development of a botanic
garden. In 1994 an evaluation and adv