Malabar Botanical Garden

The Malabar Botanical Garden and Institute for Plant Sciences covers 45 acres in Olavanna panchayat, about 8 km from Kozhikode city. It began in 1991 as a government botanical garden, became the autonomous Malabar Botanical Society in 1996, and in 2015 became a research body of the state science and technology council (KSCSTE). The Union environment ministry recognises it as a lead garden for conserving aquatic plants, and it is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

Water plants are the speciality: more than 400 Indian aquatic species grow here, the biggest such collection in the country. The garden also keeps 432 of the 742 species described in van Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus, along with about 150 pteridophytes, over 60 bryophytes, 52 fruit trees, 60 aromatic plants and many medicinal species. It is open from 10 am to 5 pm on government working days.