The botanical garden was established on the space of about 2.0 hectares in 1959 by the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Zagreb as a part of the Biological Institute in Dubrovnik. This garden on Lokrum was established for scientific purposes only. Its basic purpose is the introduction and acclimatization of subtropics plants from climate regions very similar to Dubrovnik.
The contents of the garden is presented into three main groups: Australian trees and shrubs, conifers and succulents.
1. Australian trees and shrubs
The most important into these groups are genera Eucalyptus (72 species), Callistemon (14 species) and Acacia (21 species). Especially well prospered are these species: Eucalyptus globulus, E. bicostata, E. viminae, E. macarthuri, E. maideni and E. camaldulensis.
2. Conifers
By the number of species the best represented are pines (44 species). These are mainly American and Mediterranean pines, and in a smaller number are Asian.
3. Succulents
The group of succulents occupies a very important place by the number of species and by space. Particularly, the collection of cactuses (about 400 species) has to be mentioned because it is permanently put into a hot house.
Besides the above mentioned groups, also a great number of decorative bushes and geophytes prosper into this garden. The total number of introduced species on the island Lokrum is 1350 taxa by now.