On the territory of the Moscow region of Butovo there is an amazing oasis of medicinal plants and aromatic herbs - VILAR - a botanical garden. A research institute with a garden is located on the territory of the former estate of the famous philanthropist and pharmacist Ferrein in the distant 1931. Such a huge area - more than 45 hectares - no garden can boast anymore!
A bit of the history of the emergence of botanical gardens
The unique healing properties of medicinal herbs were known in ancient times, and in the Middle Ages the monks set up small gardens at the monasteries. The first persons of the state tried to promote the development of “pharmacies' gardens”, encouraged the import of plants from other countries and even continents - green treasures were delivered from the Middle East, the
Arabian Peninsula and the black continent. Later, “drugstore gardens” grew to the size of botanical gardens.
Experimental fields
The VILAR Botanical Garden (Butovo) is world famous for its experimental fields, plants and seeds, which the institute exchanges with more than fifty gardens on the globe. On its vast lands students of agricultural universities learn the basics of botany and eminent professors conduct scientific work.
Virtual walk around VILAR - Botanical Garden
At the entrance to the botanical garden, we are greeted by a plot with plants separated by pharmacological characteristics. Plants that have a tonic effect on the body grow first. Among them are the famous and popular among the people Eleutherococcus, lemongrass, and golden root. Behind them are plants of a calming spectrum of action: motherwort, Maryin root, valerian ... On this pharmacopeia plot of the garden, you can find medicinal plants of the entire range of effects on the human body, more than two hundred in all.
The whole territory of VILAR (the botanical garden is very large, we recall) is divided into several botanical and geographical zones: the Caucasus, Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia, Crimea, European Russia, North America and Europe. Wild plants inherent in a certain territorial zone grow here. Preference is given to edificators - plants, which are a kind of "calling card" of the region, and medicinal plants of scientific value. There are about one and a half thousand trees, bushes and grasses in the garden.
VILAR is a botanical garden that has its own greenhouse with tropical and subtropical plants. Five hundred thermophilic plants are carefully grown in the greenhouse complex.
Man-made ponds
In the second half of the 20th century, three man-made ponds were comfortably located on the site of the former ravines and tributary of the Bitsa River . In some places, springs still beat - so the rivulet makes itself felt. Locals have long loved the VILAR Botanical Garden. Fishing is a particularly popular activity at the ponds, lovers of "quiet hunting" from other parts of the capital come here.
Scientific and educational work
VILAR is a botanical garden that actively attracts the attention of schoolchildren to environmental issues, conducting educational excursions all year round: in the winter in the greenhouse complex, in the summer in the garden. There are special destinations for the disabled and senior citizens. Pharmaceutical students and students of landscape design colleges study the beneficial properties of herbs in experimental fields.
This green island of nature invariably attracts people tired of the crazy urban rhythm who want to enjoy the purity and freshness of a wild corner.