100 Years of the Botanical Garden

Just under a century ago, on 14 October 1917, the Botanical Garden was opened under the name of the Cultivation Garden for Technical Crops. The garden was opened at the insistence of Gerrit van Iterson Jnr, Professor of Technical Botany. He explained the necessity for such as garden as follows: ‘If the future engineer is to understand fully the processes which are required to obtain the all-important products from the world of plants, he will have to be given the opportunity to study the plants that are the basis mostly as they are presented to technology, that is, alive’.

Indonesia

Fibres, latex, gums, resins, wood and dyes primarily from Indonesia were unfamiliar raw materials that could be used for new products. The garden started to supply the burgeoning Dutch industry in Delft, such as the oil and peanut factory (Calvé), the gutta perscha factory (Apollo Tyres) and the glue and yeast factory (Gist Brocades). This period of growth came to an end after World War II when the ties between the Netherlands and Indonesia were broken.

Figures 1. The original garden

The Botanical Garden now

The more than 8000 plants in the Botanical Garden are still a source for new industrial developments, for example: the pink LED technology for multi-layer cultivation and efficient plant growth in greenhouses, the ultra-fine dust collection system for air purification, fibers for new organic composites, Vetiver - grasses as bank protection etc. The Botanical Garden remains a source for bio-inspired technological innovations.