North American Department

The Northern American department is located in the northern hemisphere of the earth. In the planning of the Batumi Botanical Garden, the coldest 7.8 ha area in the northern part of the garden was allocated for the phytogeographic department of Northern America.

The department is divided into four parts:

1. North American Lake, adjacent lowland and slopes, with characteristic plants: Pontederia cordata, Sabal palmetto, Taxodium distichum, Nyssa sylvatica, Pinus taeda, Pinus palustris, Baccharis halimifolia and others; with pine and oak trees typical of the southern and northern states of eastern North America;
2. Deciduous trees of southern-eastern states: Acer rubrum, A. sacharum, Magnolia grandiflora, M. virginiana, Liriodendron tulipifera, Asimina triloba, Kalmia latifolia, Catalpa bignonioides and others.
3. Coniferous trees of the far west, i.e. “Oregon Gorge”: Sequia, Sequoiadendron, Chamaecyparis, Cupressus and different species of Juniperus.
4. Cultural plants division: Carya, Acer saccharum, Washingtonia species.

Severe weather of the 1990s had a negative effect on many of the garden plants with some of species falling out of the collection. Starting in 1985, 85 taxon were withdrawn from the collection of Northern American plants in the Garden. Though, withdrawn species are annually re-introduced and phytogeographic departments are filled with new species. According to data from 1981-85, the collection of Northern-American plants comprised 217 species and occupied the second position with its special composition (after Eastern Asian plants), comprising 15% of the collection of the Garden.

The 2014-2016 inventories are currently underway, after which the species composition of currently existing plants will be more accurate.

Twenty two species of Northern American origin are included in the “red list” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).