Dominica Botanical Gardens

Following restoration efforts, it remains a focus of cultural life in Roseau, and a center of conservation research on Dominica.

The Crown Government began planning the gardens in 1889, with the goal of encouraging crop diversification and to provide farmers with correctly propagated seedlings.

Though its primary purpose remained economic and experimental, Jones introduced ornamental plants to make the grounds attractive.

It is also frequently visited by a variety of wild birds, including three species of hummingbirds, carib grackles, and the green heron.

[4] A molecular diagnostic laboratory was also established at the Botanic Gardens under the Darwin Initiative, to study the threat of chytridiomycosis to amphibian populations, in particular the endangered frog known as the mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax).

[6] The offices of the Dominica Forestry and Wildlife Division were also located at the Botanic Gardens for fifty years, moving off-site in late 2009.

A Dominican anole ( Anolis oculatus ) feasts on a flower at the Botanical Gardens.
A school bus was crushed by an African baobab tree toppled by Hurricane David in 1979; the bus and tree remain in the gardens.
Two jacko parrots ( Amazona arausiaca ), at the Parrot Conservation and Research Centre.