Title: The Singapore Botanic Gardens

Speaker: Dr. Nura Abdul Karim, Plant Records Manager, Living Collection Division, Singapore Botanic Gardens

Date: Friday, October 5 at 2:30 PM

Location: Nixon Smiley Meeting Room, Montgomery Botanical Center (Refreshments will be provided)

The beauty, horticulture and science of a pre-eminent tropical botanic garden: Founded in 1859, the Singapore Botanic Gardens today encompasses 183 acres of beautiful tropical gardens and lakes, as well as facilities for botanical science, horticulture, education, the arts and visitor services. The garden encourages public access to a unique degree, being perhaps the only garden in the world that is open from 5 AM to 12 midnight every day of the year, with no admission fee except for admittance the National Orchid Garden. The garden also includes a small virgin tropical rainforest with massive rainforest trees. Among the countless outstanding plants in the garden is a fruiting specimen of the Coco de Mer, Lodoicea maldivica.

Singapore Botanic Gardens’ mission: “Connecting people and plants through publications, horticultural and botanical displays, educational outreach, and events, provision of a key civic and recreational space, and playing a role as an international Gardens and a regional centre for botanical and horticultural research and training.”

Beginning in 2011, the Montgomery Botanical Center and Singapore Botanical Gardens have established a plant and staff exchange that has fostered collaboration between our gardens and enhanced our collections.

About the speaker: Dr. Nura Abdul Karim completed her Ph.D. in Horticulture at the University of Western Australia studying fungal relationships with tropical orchids. Currently she heads the Plant Records Unit of the Singapore Botanic Gardens where she oversees the garden’s database and ensures proper use of the collection for research and display. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the newly formed Pha Ta Ke Botanic Garden in Laos and along with other international researchers assists in training and aid in an advisory capacity for the staff there.

This lecture is made possible with the support of the City of Coral Gables.