Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute (TBGRI) is an autonomous Institute established by the Government of Kerala on 17th November 1979 and registered on 23rd November 1979 under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955. It functions under the umbrella of the Science, Technology and Environment Department, Government of Kerala.

In the beginning, the Institute functioned at Thiruvananthapuram city on a rented duplex building. Thanks to the Forests & Wildlife Department, the land for establishment of the garden was allotted in 1983 and the foundation stone was laid on 27th May 1983 by the then Chief Minister, Shri K. Karunakaran. The then Education Minister, the late C. H. Mohammed Koya laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Visiting Scientists’ Guest House. The meeting was presided over by the Minister for Forests, Shri K. P. Noorudeen.

With the recruitment of a skeletal scientific and technical staff, the Institute made a modest beginning. Biotechnology and Taxonomy were the two subjects considered to have immediate relevance to the development of the garden. While taxonomists prepared a flora of the garden documenting the native plant wealth before mass introduction and face lift which subsequently followed, the bio-technologists mass multiplied plants of commercial importance, especially orchids for cultivation and distribution to the public.

The Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew played an exemplary and significant role in shaping and design of garden lay out of TBGRI in its formative stages. RBG, Kew not only lent its best men to train our technical staff in gardening and landscaping but also generously supplied books and living plants as gifts to enrich the respective collections. Undoubtedly, the continuing support of RBG, Kew is of special mention in the development of the Garden.

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