Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne is located on the South Bank of the Yarra river close to the city centre. In area of 38 hectares, there are about 10 million species of plants, representing local, Australian and global flora. Royal Botanical gardens is considered the best in Australia and among the best in the world. Of great importance and long-term activity gardens for breeding imported to the continent species.

45 km South-West of Melbourne in the suburb of Cranbourne is a branch of the Royal Botanical Gardens, which is 363 hectares and grows mostly native plants in a special section of the Australian Garden opened in 2006 and has already awarded a number of Botanical awards.

In the Melbourne Botanical gardens are located near the parks group, known as Parks. It includes parks kings Domain, Alexandra gardens and Queen Victoria Gardens.

The history of the Royal Botanic Gardens originated in the mid 19th century when, soon after the founding of Melbourne on the marshy banks of the Yarra river, it was decided to establish a Botanical collection. First, the gardens were just the herbarium, but in 1873 a new Director William Gilfoil changed the appearance of the garden, turning it into a beautiful place for walks and landed here plants of tropical and temperate zone.

Today in the Botanical garden you can see the multiple exposures, the relevant geographical areas of the earth: Australian Forest, California Garden, new Zealand Collection, South China Gardens and others. There are eucalyptus trees, various cacti and succulents, roses, camellias, ferns, oaks and many other representatives of the world's flora.

One of the most famous trees in the garden is the so-called Tree branches 300 - year-old eucalyptus riverine, under which once the state of Victoria was declared an independent colony. In August 2010 the tree vandals mutilated, and it is still unknown whether it would be able to recover.

From the earliest days of its founding, the Royal Botanic Gardens are doing work on the study and identification of plants through the establishment of the National Herbarium of Victoria. Today in the Herbarium contains about 1, 2 million specimens of dried plants, as well as an extensive collection of books, magazines and videos on Botanical subjects. And recently there was established the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, which oversees the plants growing in conditions of urban ecosystems.