On the territory of the Moscow district of Butovo there is an amazing oasis of medicinal plants and aromatic herbs - VILAR - a botanical garden. The research institute with a garden was located on the territory of the former estate of the famous philanthropist and pharmacist Ferrein back in 1931. No other garden can boast such a huge area - more than 45 hectares!
A bit of the history of the origin of botanical gardens
The unique healing properties of medicinal herbs were known in ancient times, and in the Middle Ages, monks planted small gardens at monasteries. The first persons of the state tried to promote the development of "pharmaceutical gardens", encouraged the import of plants from other countries and even continents - green treasures were supplied from the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and the black continent. Later, the "drug gardens" grew to the size of botanical gardens.
Experimental fields
VILAR Botanical Garden (Butovo) is famous all over the world for its experimental fields, plants and seeds, which the institute exchanges with more thanfifty 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 through VILAR - botanical garden
At the entrance to the botanical garden, we are met by a section with plants divided according to pharmacological characteristics. Plants that have a tonic effect on the body grow first. Among them are well-known and popular among the people Eleutherococcus, lemongrass, golden root. Behind them are plants with a calming spectrum of action: motherwort, Maryin root, valerian … In this pharmacopoeial plot of the garden, you can find medicinal plants of the entire range of effects on the human body, there are more than two hundred of them.
The entire 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. Here grow wild plants inherent in a certain territorial zone. Preference is given to edificators - plants that are a kind of "calling card" of the region, and medicinal plants of scientific value. In total, there are about one and a half thousand trees, bushes and herbs in the garden.
VILAR is a botanical garden that has its own greenhouse with tropical and subtropical plants. Five hundred heat-loving plants are carefully grown in the greenhouse complex.
Man-made ponds
In the place of former ravines andtributary of the Bitsa River in the second half of the 20th century, three man-made ponds comfortably settled down. In some places, springs still beat - this is how the rivulet makes itself felt. Local residents have long fallen in love with the VILAR botanical garden. Fishing is a particularly popular pastime on the ponds; lovers of "silent hunting" come here from other parts of the capital.
Scientific and educational work
VILAR is a botanical garden that actively draws the attention of schoolchildren to environmental issues, conducting educational excursions all year round: in winter in the greenhouse complex, in summer - in the garden. There are special directions for the disabled and pensioners. Pharmaceutical students and landscaping college students are studying the beneficial properties of herbs in experimental fields.
This green island of nature invariably attracts people tired of the crazy city rhythm who want to enjoy the cleanliness and freshness of a wild corner.
