DARJEELING - THE LLOYD BOTANICAL GARDEN

The original botanical garden was laid out in 1876 at Rangiroon (5,700 m) some 10 km east of Darjeeling during Sir Ashely Eden’s tenure as Lt. Governor of Bengal. It was eventually abandoned in favor of the present one below the Eden Hospital in Darjeeling town owing to the frequent hailstorms which denuded Rangiroon of all foliage. In 1878, the greater part of th present site was presented by Mr W Lloyed, the proprietor of a bank, and has no connection with Lt General Lloyd, the discoverer of Darjeeling, as many people still misconstrue.

The garden is divided into two main parts – the upper and indigenous section, and the lower or exotic section. Most of the paths intersecting it are lined with tea plants, the flowers of which are white with a pale yellow center, remaining one of orange blossoms. The whole plot, measuring 14 acres of land, is neatly laid out, and contains specimens of nearly all Himalayan flora as well as many exotic plants, including the Australian Blue Gum tree (eucalyptus).

There is a greenhouse, which stands in the center of the grounds and houses many varieties of camellia, a native of China, which, when in full bloom, are a revelation of color.

The numbers of exhibits are added annually, thereby, making it correspondingly interesting to such visitors who are capable of appreciating its contents form either an arboricultural or a botanical point of view. In 1916, over 11,500 plants, over 5,173 dozens of annual seedlings, over 908 bulbs and tubers and over 417 packets of seeds were either exchanged with or distributed to other gardens, while in addition, special collections of seeds of Himalayan species from both high and low altitudes were made. Over 52,000 visitors to the Lloyd Botanical Garden were counted during that year, nearly 16, 000 of whom were Europeans.