The Schynige Platte Alpine Garden (German : Alpengarten Schynige Platte) is a botanical garden located at an altitude of about 2,000 metres (7,000 ft), near the summit of the Schynige Platte mountain in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It specialises in research into the high altitude flora of Switzerland, and has a display of over 600 species of plants native to the Swiss Alps. The garden is run by the Schynige Platte Alpine Garden Society, working closely with the Botanical Garden of Bern and the Institute for Plant Sciences at the University of Bern. [1] [2]
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation, preservation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It may contain specialist plant collections such as cacti and other succulent plants, herb gardens, plants from particular parts of the world, and so on; there may be greenhouses, shadehouses, again with special collections such as tropical plants, alpine plants, or other exotic plants. Visitor services at a botanical garden might include tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, and other entertainment.
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a country situated in western, central and southern Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The sovereign state is a federal republic bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8.5 million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva.
The garden was created in 1928, when an area of over 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) was fenced off, ending centuries of use as alpine pasture, and it was opened to the public the following year. Since 1932, an alpine-botanical course has been held at the gardens, under the direction of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Bern. [3] [4]
The garden is accessed directly from the platform of the Schynige Platte station of the Schynige Platte railway, which runs from Wilderswil, where connection is made with Bernese Oberland railway trains from Interlaken. Both garden and railway are open from late May to late October, and admission charges are included in the train ticket. A shop run by the garden society at the entrance sells guides to the garden and other related merchandise, and an adjacent exhibition contains information on the geology, botany and zoology of the Schynige Platte. [1] [5] [6]
Schynige Platte is a railway station that is the upper terminus of the Schynige Platte railway, a rack railway that connects Wilderswil with the Schynige Platte mountain in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The Schynige Platte alpine botanical garden is accessed from the station, whilst a mountain hotel and restaurant is nearby.
Wilderswil is a village and a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Interlaken is a statistic town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Highlands region of the Swiss Alps, and the main transport gateway to the mountains and lakes of that region.
Administratively, the garden is in the municipality of Gündlischwand in the canton of Bern. [7]
Gündlischwand is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Gündlischwand, the municipality also includes the hamlet of Zweilütschinen.
The canton of Bern or Berne is the second largest of the 26 Swiss cantons by both surface area and population. Located in west-central Switzerland, it borders the canton of Jura and the canton of Solothurn to the north. To the west lie the canton of Neuchâtel, the canton of Fribourg and canton of Vaud. To the south lies the canton of Valais. East of the canton of Bern lie the cantons of Uri, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Lucerne and Aargau.
