The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also called Shaw's Garden after its founder, Henry Shaw, who was a generous donor. The garden's herbarium, which has over 7.5 million plant samples, is the second largest in North America, after the New York Botanical Garden. The Peter H. Raven Library has 85% of all books and articles ever written about the science of classifying plants. The herbarium has a special code, MO, which is used when scientists refer to the plants stored there.

History

The Missouri Botanical Garden started to develop by 1850 and was founded by Henry Shaw. Shaw, a person from Britain, moved to St. Louis in 1819. The garden was built on land that Shaw owned, and construction began in 1855. The garden officially opened in 1859. For many years after its opening, it was known as Shaw's Garden. Shaw died in 1889 and gave the conservatory to the city.

In 1959, the conservatory started building the Climatron. The Climatron is a greenhouse shaped like a geodesic dome, designed to copy the climate of a rainforest. This greenhouse replaced the older Palm House, which was torn down to make space for it. The Climatron opened in 1960 and was one of the first greenhouses with a geodesic dome. The garden was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 1971, and was named a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976.

In 2024, the Tower Grove House was added to the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Records show that in 1855, four people who were enslaved by Shaw escaped from the house and crossed the Mississippi River with help from Mary Meachum. A woman named Esther and her three children were captured right after crossing the river. Shaw offered a reward for the capture of Jim Kennerly, who had also escaped.

Peter H. Raven Library

The Peter H. Raven Library general collection was started by Henry Shaw along with the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1859. It has over 160,300 items about plant classification.

Cultural festivals

The garden hosts several annual cultural festivals, including the Japanese Festival and Chinese Culture Days organized by the St. Louis Chinese Culture Days Committee. During these events, the garden displays plants, arts, crafts, music, and food from the cultures being celebrated. The Japanese Festival includes activities such as sumo wrestling, taiko drumming, koma-mawashi top spinning, and kimono fashion shows. The garden is famous for its bonsai trees, which are visible throughout the year but are shown more clearly during the many Asian festivals held there.

Additional projects

The Missouri Botanical Garden also runs the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield. The Butterfly House includes an 8,000-square-foot (740 m ) indoor butterfly conservatory and an outdoor butterfly garden.

The EarthWays Center is a group at the Missouri Botanical Garden that helps people learn about green practices, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainability topics.

The Shaw Nature Reserve was created by the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1925 to protect plants from city pollution. Later, the air in St. Louis became cleaner, and the reserve has remained open to the public for recreation, research, and education. The 2,400-acre (9.7 km ) reserve is located in Gray Summit, Missouri, 35 miles (56 km) from the city.

The Plant List is an online encyclopedia project to create a complete list of plant names. It was developed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. The list includes 1,040,426 scientific plant names at the species level, with 298,900 accepted species names. It also includes 620 plant families and 16,167 plant genera.

In September 2017, the Missouri Botanical Garden worked with the St. Louis Zoo and Washington University in St. Louis on a conservation project called the Living Earth Collaborative. The project, led by Washington University scientist Jonathan Losos, aims to help people understand how humans can support the survival and growth of plants, animals, and microbes in natural environments.

Gallery

• Site plan from 1974 to 1977
• View of Seiwa-en, which is the largest Japanese garden in North America
• Eight Bridges (yatsu-hashi) design within Seiwa-en
• Henry Shaw's mausoleum at the Missouri Botanical Garden, with a glass art piece by Dale Chihuly located in front of it in 2023
• Gladney Rose Garden in 2023
• Swift Family Garden in 2023. The Linnean House is visible on the right side.
• Fountain located in the garden
• Statue of George Washington Carver
• Section of the children's area
• Section of the children's water-play area
• The Missouri Botanical Garden's Prairie Garden in 2023, featuring stone paths and metal animal silhouettes
• English Woodland Garden in 2023

Henry Shaw Medal

The Henry Shaw Medal has been given since 1893. It recognizes people who have made important contributions to the Missouri Botanical Garden, botanical research, horticulture, conservation, or the museum community.

• 1893 J. Dorner & Son
• 1897 Luther Armstrong
• 1899 Henry Clinkaberry
• 1904 Three medals given to World’s Fair participants
• 1907 W. A. Manda
• 1935 Jeremiah Coleman
• 1978 Roberto Incer Barquero
• 1979 Julian Steyermark
• 1980 Anne L. Lehmann
• 1981 B. A. Krukoff
• 1982 Paul Kohl and S. Dillon Ripley
• 1983 Robert Hyland
• 1984 Robert Brookings Smith
• 1985 Marlin and Carol Perkins
• 1986 William L. Brown
• 1987 Koichi Kawana
• 1988 Ghillean Tolmie Prance
• 1989 Joseph H. Bascom, John H. Biggs, David M. Gates, Henry Hitchcock, Robert Brookings Smith, Tom K. Smith, Jr., C. C. Johnson Spink, Frits W. Went, Harry E. Wuertenbaecher, Jr., and Frans Stafleu
• 1990 William D. Ruckelshaus
• 1991 José Sarukhán Kermez
• 1992 Compton James Tucker
• 1993 Robert E. Kresko, Armen L. Takhtajan, O. Sage Wightman III, and Edward O. Wilson
• 1994 Joseph and Nesta Ewan
• 1995 Marlina Curry, E. Desmond, and Mary Ann Lee
• 1996 Peter H. Raven and John K. Wallace, Jr.
• 1997 William McKibben
• 1998 John Browne, William H. T. Bush, Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr., and M. S. Swaminathan
• 1999 Liz Claiborne, Art Ortenberg, and Margaret B. Grigg
• 2000 Rachel Lambert Mellon and David W. Kemper
• 2001 Calestous Juma
• 2002 William Conway and Lucianna Gladney Ross
• 2003 Dr. William H. Danforth and Stephen F. Brauer
• 2004 Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire and Jack E. Thomas, Jr.
• 2005 National Geographic Society
• 2006 Jack Dangermond, Geoffrey L. Rausch, and Scott C. Schnuck
• 2007 Jack Jennings and Evelyn E. Newman
• 2008 Thomas Lovejoy
• 2009 Michael A. Dirr and Nicholas L. Reding
• 2010 The Honorable Christopher S. Bond
• 2011 Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Ali
• 2012 Arnold W. Donald
• 2013 David Bramwell
• 2014 W. Stephen Maritz
• 2017 Lelia J. Farr
• 2020 Viscount Phillippe de Spoelberch
• 2022 David M. Hollo
• 2023 Stephen Blackmore
• 2024 Peter Wyse Jackson
• 2025 Rhett Ayers Butler and Michael K. Stern