Botanical Gardens at the Los Angeles Zoo!

It’s true—the Los Angeles Zoo is now an accredited botanical garden! The American Association of Museums (AAM) has awarded accreditation to the Zoo, making us one of nine zoos in the country to be recognized for our fantastic collection of plants as well as our amazing animals. In fact, our plant collections are so important to the Zoo experience, we're changing our name to the Los Angeles Zoo And Botanical Gardens.

 The accreditation effort and on-going plant inventory has established the Zoo’s botanical collections at more than 800 plant species and 7,400 individual plants. Each are identified by an “accession” number in the Los Angeles Zoological Gardens database. This database—developed by the Los Angeles Zoo Horticulture staff and a very devoted volunteer computer programmer—has won accolades from zoos and botanical gardens around the world, and was instrumental in attaining the AAM accreditation status.

 The botanical collections at the Zoo are presented as follows:

• “Geographical Collections” representing Africa, Eurasia, Australia, North America, and South America.
• Five "Distinctive Landscape Collections” representing the landscape of Southern California with Palms, Cactus and Succulents, Eucalyptus,  Native Southwest, and Ornamental
• “Special Collections” of Browse, Poisonous, Medicinal, Culinary, and Economic plants.

While the Zoo has long been recognized for its collection of rare and endangered animals, recognition of the Zoo’s botanical collections further establishes the significant link between plants, animals, and people. As awareness of the value of plants to all life on Earth grows, so does the Zoo’s role as a protector and conveyor of a “whole ecosystem” approach to conservation, while continuing to provide a safe, meaningful environment for visitors to view the fabulous plant and animal collections that call the Zoo home.

Come watch us grow!