从 1797 年布鲁塞尔中央植物园到 1958 年迁至梅斯
比利时梅斯植物园（Plantentuin Meise / Meise Botanic Garden）的根可以追溯到 1797 年法兰斯时期在原拿骚宫（Nassoupaleis）设立的中央学校（École centrale），首任馆长曾称其为「布鲁塞尔植物园」。1822 年由比利时花卉学会（Société de Flore）接管，1826 年由布鲁塞尔当地资产阶级集资改组为公司化运营的植物园，1829 年迁入「Kruidtuin」温室园区。1870 年比利时政府收购后正式更名为「国家植物园」（Nationale Plantentuin van België / Jardin botanique national de Belgique），由政治家兼植物学家 Barthélemy Dumortier 主导，并购入慕尼黑著名的冯·马蒂乌斯（Von Martius）腊叶标本馆奠定分类学基础。1937 年决定将主体迁至梅斯镇的布肖城堡（Bouchout Castle）园区，1958 年完成搬迁并扩建温室群，新址随后持续扩建。
92 公顷园区、温室群与五大研究主线
植物园占地 92 公顷，包含梅斯城堡与布肖城堡两处历史地产及阿伦贝格家族旧堡遗址。活体植物收藏约 18,000 种（占全球已知高等植物物种约 6%），其中约一半在温室。温室由 13 个相连的不同气候区组成，对公众开放的有 Lentekas（春季温室，栽种常绿阔叶林、杜鹃与山茶）、Evolutiekas（演化温室，按 5 亿年植物进化史布置）、Regenwoud（雨林室，藤本与附生植物）、Bergregenwoudkas（高山雨林室，栽种倒挂金钟与兰花）、Mediterrane kas（地中海温室，汇集南非、智利、西澳、加州与地中海植物）、Mabundu（果实温室，椰子、香蕉、番木瓜）、Victoriakas（王莲温室，含巨型睡莲、热带猪笼草与古埃及纸莎草）、Droogtekas（干旱温室）与 Moessonkas（季风温室）。馆方重点研究方向涵盖比利时与非洲（刚果民主共和国、中非共和国等）的植物、真菌、黏菌与硅藻多样性。
四百万号腊叶标本馆、世界最大豆科种子库与植物图书馆
梅斯植物园设有约 400 万号腊叶标本的国际标本馆，国际标本馆索引代号为「BR」，是引证馆藏标本时的标准缩写，馆内并藏有世界最大的玫瑰腊叶标本集以及来自巴西与中非的重要历史收藏。植物图书馆馆藏逾 20 万件作品，出版物年代跨越 15 世纪至今，附设比利时皇家植物学协会（Koninklijke Belgische Botanische Vereniging）图书馆。园方运营的国际公认种子库设有 -20°C 深冻保存单元，其中野生豆类种子收藏覆盖 211 个野生豆品种，是该领域规模最大的活体种子库之一；该种子库同时与斯瓦尔巴全球种子库（Svalbard Global Seed Vault）及英国皇家植物园邱园的千禧种子库计划（Millennium Seed Bank Project）开展合作。代表性保育植物包括 1994 年于澳大利亚发现、曾被认为仅以化石形式存在的 Wollemia nobilis（伍尔米松）两株成树，以及被誉为「活化石」的 300 年生开普敦大苏铁 Encephalartos altensteinii。
2014 年归属佛拉芒大区政府与 Steven Dessein 治下的当代运营
梅斯植物园原属比利时联邦政府，1999 年比利时联邦机构改革促成联邦农业部相关职能下放至各大区，2000 年 Verhofstadt I 内阁决定将植物园移交给佛拉芒大区政府，2001 年 Lambermont 协议达成共识，2012 年 12 月佛拉芒与法语区政府签署最终协议，2013 年 2 月签署合作协定并经两大区议会批准，自 2014 年 1 月 1 日起植物园正式成为佛拉芒大区政府下属的外部自治机构「Agentschap Plantentuin Meise」。科学藏品、腊叶标本与图书馆产权仍归联邦政府，以借用方式交由佛拉芒大区政府管理；法语区保留若干科研岗位及董事会代表权。植物学家 Steven Dessein 自 2012 年起任临时馆长，2014 年 3 月 28 日由佛拉芒政府正式任命为馆长，并连任至今。董事会由 9 名成员组成：佛拉芒政府指派 5 名、科学委员会指派 2 名、法语区政府指派 2 名，全园约 184 名工作人员分别由两大区政府支付薪酬。
国际网络、生态旅游与植物学教育
梅斯植物园是国际植物园保护联盟（Botanic Gardens Conservation International, BGCI）、植物与园艺图书馆理事会（Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, CBHL）及欧洲植物与园艺图书馆组（European Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Group, EBHL）的成员机构，并与比利时皇家植物学协会共同负责 2010 年创办的学术期刊 Plant Ecology and Evolution。植物园免费向公众开放，常年举办季节性展览、家庭工作坊与教师培训，并与鲁汶大学、布鲁塞尔自由大学、根特大学等高校联合培养研究生。访客可参观布肖城堡园区、Balat 温室（1853 年建筑师 Alphonse Balat 设计，从布鲁塞尔旧园迁至现址）以及伊利莎白皇后夏洛特（Charlotte of Mexico）曾居住的城堡主楼，并可在 92 公顷林地与温室内观赏 18,000 余种活体植物的全年轮替花期。
From the 1797 Brussels Central School Garden to the 1958 Relocation at Meise
The origins of Meise Botanic Garden (Plantentuin Meise in Dutch; Jardin botanique de Meise in French) go back to 1797, when the École centrale of the Dyle department was established at the former Nassau Palace in Brussels under French rule; its first director referred to it as “Le Jardin Botanique de Bruxelles”. The garden passed to the Société de Flore in 1822, was reorganized as a company financed by Brussels bourgeois shareholders in 1826, and moved to the Kruidtuin greenhouse complex in 1829. In 1870 the Belgian state acquired the company and formally created the National Botanic Garden of Belgium, a process driven by politician-botanist Barthélemy Dumortier, who also purchased the famous Von Martius Herbarium from Munich as a foundation for taxonomic research. In 1937 the decision was taken to relocate the institution to the Bouchout Castle domain in Meise; the move was completed and new greenhouse wings opened in 1958, after which the site has been continuously extended.
The 92-Hectare Domain, Thirteen Greenhouse Climate Zones and Five Research Priorities
The garden occupies a 92-hectare domain that includes the Bouchout Castle estate, the neighbouring Meise Castle lands, and a former stronghold of the House of Arenberg. It maintains roughly 18,000 living plant species (approximately 6 % of all known higher-plant species worldwide), of which about half are housed in greenhouses. The greenhouse complex consists of thirteen interconnected climate-controlled houses; nine are open to the public under the names Lentekas (Spring House, with evergreen broadleaf, Rhododendron and Camellia collections), Evolutiekas (Evolution House, presenting 500 million years of plant evolution from the first green algae onward), Regenwoud (Rainforest House, with lianas, epiphytes and strangler figs), Bergregenwoudkas (Montane Rainforest House, with Fuchsia and orchids), Mediterrane kas (Mediterranean House, gathering plants from South Africa, Chile, Western Australia, California and the Mediterranean basin), Mabundu (“ripe, edible fruit”, with coconut, banana and papaya), Victoriakas (Victoria House, with giant waterlilies, tropical pitcher plants and papyrus), Droogtekas (Arid House) and Moessonkas (Monsoon House). Research is primarily focused on the flora, fungi, myxomycetes and diatoms of Belgium and central Africa (notably the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic).
A Four-Million-Specimen Herbarium, the World’s Largest Wild Bean Seed Bank and a Botanical Library Spanning Six Centuries
Meise Botanic Garden houses a research herbarium of about four million specimens, registered under the Index Herbariorum code “BR”, which is the standard citation when referring to specimens preserved there. The herbarium includes the world’s largest rose specimen collection and significant historical gatherings from Brazil and Central Africa. The on-site botanical library holds more than 200,000 works published from the fifteenth century to the present, and incorporates the library of the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium. The garden’s internationally recognised seed bank operates at -20 °C and preserves seeds of 211 wild bean species, the largest such collection in the world for this group; the seed bank also collaborates with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Project. Notable conservation collections include two mature trees of Wollemia nobilis, a species known only from fossils until its 1994 discovery in Australia, and an approximately 300-year-old specimen of the Eastern Cape giant cycad Encephalartos altensteinii, sometimes described as a “living fossil”.
The 2014 Transfer to the Flemish Community and the Directorship of Steven Dessein
Until 2013 the garden was property of the Belgian federal state. The 1999 dioxin crisis led to a federal-state reform that transferred agricultural competencies to the regions; in 2000 the Verhofstadt I government decided to transfer the botanic garden to the Flemish Community, with the Lambermont Accord of 2001 establishing the basic framework. After a long political deadlock, the Flemish and French Community governments signed a final cooperation agreement in December 2012, which was ratified by both community parliaments and entered into force on 1 January 2014, creating the externally autonomous agency “Agentschap Plantentuin Meise” under the Flemish government. The scientific collections, herbarium and library remain federal property, lent to the Flemish Community in commodatum; the French Community retains representation on the board and continues to fund a number of research posts. Botanist Steven Dessein served as director ad interim from 2012 and was formally appointed administrator-general by the Flemish government on 28 March 2014. The board has nine members: five appointed by the Flemish government, two by a newly created scientific council, and two by the French Community government; the garden’s roughly 184 staff members are paid by their respective community governments.
BGCI Membership, Academic Publishing and Public Engagement
Meise Botanic Garden is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL) and the European Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Group (EBHL), and together with the Royal Botanical Society of Belgium publishes the botanical journal Plant Ecology and Evolution, founded in 2010. The garden is freely open to the public year-round and runs seasonal exhibitions, family workshops and teacher-training programmes in cooperation with Belgian universities including KU Leuven, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University. Visitors can tour the Bouchout Castle domain, the nineteenth-century Balat Greenhouse (designed in 1853 by architect Alphonse Balat and relocated from the old Brussels garden), and the main castle building once inhabited by Empress Charlotte of Mexico, while experiencing the rotating floral displays of 18,000-plus plant species across the 92-hectare landscape.
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