de l'Université Paris-Cité Botanical Garden

Paris, France, France

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The Jardin botanique de l'Université Paris-Cité is a 4,000-square-meter botanical garden located at 4 avenue de l'Observatoire on the campus of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Paris, France.

Created in 1628 as the first botanical garden at the Paris School of Pharmacy (originally called the "jardin des simples"), the current garden dates from 1882 when the Superior School of Pharmacy moved to the Chartreux convent grounds, and it was redesigned in 1884 by professor Léon Guignard.

Its primary purpose is pedagogical: to help pharmacy students learn the names of medicinal and toxic plants and recognize them, a mission it has maintained for nearly 400 years despite changes in study programs. The garden houses approximately 400 plant species displayed outdoors and in glasshouses, including medicinal and toxic varieties plus tropical plants like orange trees, giant nettles, papaya trees, and cotton plants.

The glasshouses were completely renovated in 2001-2002, rebuilt identically to the original ones designed by Gustave Eiffel's workshops. Between its pathways, the garden features a pond filled with aquatic life including water lilies, hyacinths, frogs, and duckfish. From spring to autumn, the garden offers guided tours led by instructors from the Pharmacognosy and Plant Biology department, and the public can also request guided visits.