Botanical Conservatory Of National Pyrénées Et De Midi-Pyrénées

Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France, France

---

The Conservatoire botanique national des Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées (also called Conservatoire botanique pyrénéen) is a public botanical research institution specializing in the wild flora of the Pyrenees mountains, located in the Vallon de Salut at Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the Hautes-Pyrénées department of southwestern France.

Created in 1999 and officially accredited by the French Ministry of Ecology since January 2001, it is one of 11 national botanical conservatories in France working to document, study, and conserve native plant species and natural habitats across the Pyrenees massif and the entire Midi-Pyrénées region covering eight departments.

The conservatory's headquarters is housed in the historic former Baths of Salut within the classified Vallon de Salut site, and while primarily a research facility, it contains significant herbarium collections totaling approximately 30,000 specimens from notable botanists Louis Ramond de Carbonnières, Pierrine Gaston-Sacaze, Pierre Le Brun, and Georges Bosc.

The institution is open to researchers, students, and naturalists by appointment, and offers guided public visits on Friday afternoons during July and August only on reservation, focusing on endemic Pyrenean plant species conservation and ecological restoration projects.