The South China Botanical Garden is located about 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) to the north of Guangzhou city and covers 4,500 mu (about 741 acres). Initially built in 1929, it is the oldest and largest South Asian tropical botanical garden in China.

It is also the botanical garden containing the most species in China, thus reputed as 'Tropical and Sub-tropical Botanic Museum'. The South China Botanical Garden consists of three parts: the Nursery and Exhibition Zone, the Research and the Residential Zone, and the Dinghushan Nature Reserve.

In the Nursery and Exhibition Zone there are modern conservatories, an education hall, and about 30 specialized gardens.

The Research and Residential Zone covers 552 mu (about 91 acres). It includes a herbarium with 1,000,000 plant specimens, a library with 200,000 books, and a network center.

Built in 1956, the Dinghushan Nature Reserve is the first nature reserve in China and the only nature reserve of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It cultivates more than 2,400 types of plants. Additionally, the Dinghushan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem is located here.

[via travelchinaguide.com website]