The Botanical Garden podcast returns to listeners after the summer holidays. The third season kicks off with the 2027 calendar as its central theme, now available for purchase. The director of the RJB-CSIC, María-Paz Martín, highlights that this year's calendar pays tribute to Mariquita and its surroundings, a key location in the history of Hispanic botany.
It was in Mariquita that José Celestino Mutis established the first operational center for the Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada in 1763, an Enlightenment scientific initiative dedicated to exploring plant diversity.
RJB-CSIC researcher, José Luis Fernández Alonso, selected the calendar's illustrations, focusing on plants depicted between 1783 and 1791, the period of the expedition's stay in Mariquita. Priority was given to plants significant to the expedition, those with recognized uses, or vernacular names, encompassing primitive angiosperms like laurels and aristolochias to more advanced ones such as orchids and composites.
Predoctoral researcher Ángel García Bodelón discusses the history of the grapevine, which originates from Asia and was cultivated in Spain by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC. The restored grapevine arbour at the Real Jardín Botánico can be observed.
Isabel Gamero Contreras, from the Administration department, recounts the history of the Pabellón Villanueva, a historic building at the RJB that symbolizes the Garden's ability to adapt over time while retaining its essence, offering a space for connection with nature.
Antonio Martín, from the Asociación Iberozoa, invites listeners to explore an ancient classical myth on the podcast that links three birds commonly found in the Botanical Garden: the swallow, the hoopoe, and the nightingale.
Antonio González, head of Maintenance and a member of the RJB's sustainability committee, reports on improvements in waste management, including new differentiated collection points and specific protocols for IT and phytosanitary waste.
Finally, journalist, writer, and communicator Rosa María Martín shares her personal perspective on the Botanical Garden as a sanctuary.
These features and sounds from the twenty-fourth program are available on the RJB website and the Ivoox platform.
