- 5 - Botanists will find special interest in maritime Adjaria which has served as a refugium for the majority of relic elements of the flora and which supports typical forest vegetation of Southern Colchis. Our routes pass directly through this part of the mountains. Batumi Botanical Garden of Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences Not far from the city of Batumi, in the picturesque land of Mtsvane Kontskhi (Green Cape), the Batumi Botanical Garden is si- tuated. The founders of the Batumi Botanical Garden*) made it their aim to collect and cultivate the plants of the subtropical regions of the globe which are interesting from scientific and practical points of view. Nowadays the Batumi Botanical Garden is the scientific experimental center for the study of biological and ecological features of introduced plants and their useful properties. Under the climatic conditions of the Black Sea Coast, plants of the damp subtropical and warm-temperate zones of the globe go through their cycle of ontogenetic development in a normal way. They grow well, blossom and bear fruits regularly, set seed and many of them tend to escape. The area of the Botanical Garden (III hectares) consists of parks, geographical sections, a Colchic forest reserve, experi- mental and economical plantations, arboreta and greenhouses. From the scientific point of view, the most significant and interes- ting are the geographical sections. Nowadays there are the fol- lowing sections in the Garden: the East Asian, the Australian,the New Zealandian, the Himalayan, the Mexican, the North American, the Mediterranean, and the one representing the damp subtropical region of the Transcaucasus. The collections of trees and shrubs grown in the Garden number more than 4000 species, varieties and --------------------------------- *) Founded in 1912; the first director and creator of the Batumi Botanical Garden was professor A.N.Krasnov.