Published 2021-09-26
Abstract
The Preston B. Byrd/Mary Heinlein Fruit & Spice Park is a 38-acre botanical garden in Homestead, Florida, that is operated by the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department. The Park is the only ethnobotanical park in the United States and contains more than 500 species of economically and culturally significant plants from five tropical and subtropical regions around the world. It showcases rare plants and educates the public on the connection to and reliance on the plant world. It also serves as a repository of cultivars for area growers and residents. Within the Park, there are several large collections of cultivars of species with commercial interest: annona, avocado, banana, bamboo, lychee, and mango. The Park’s mango collection contains more than 170 different cultivars, some of whose introduction to the park dates to the 1950s. This valuable collection is a delight to visitors each summer, and it serves as a valuable source of germplasm for the research community.