Istituto ed orto botanico

Native plants of the Carso, Trieste, Istria and neighbouring territories fill one of the main sections of Trieste's municipal botanical garden, the Civico Orto Botanico di Trieste. Alongside them are beds of poisonous plants, magical plants, dyeing plants, food plants and other useful species, plus a garden of simples (medicinal herbs), lotus flowers, ornamental plants, historic flower beds and a formal garden. Small greenhouses complete the cultivated area, which covers about a hectare of a much larger 90-hectare site.

The garden grew out of the city's experiments with Austrian black pine plantations in 1842. By 1861 it was taking shape with species collected in the Julian Alps, Istria and Dalmatia. It opened to the public in 1873, issued its first seed catalogue of 254 plants in 1877, and in 1903 became a public institution attached to the Museum of Natural History. It closed for lack of resources in 1986, and part of it reopened in 2001. The garden is listed as Italian national heritage.