Botanical garden

Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants "Akademik Dr. Jovan Tucakov"

Why is the garden named „Akademik Jovan Tucakov“?

Jovan Tucakov (Čurug, 24. I 1905 — Beograd, IX 1978) was a renowned Serbian pharmacognosist and academic, author of the first textbook on pharmacognosy in Serbian and numerous monographs and books focusing on medicinal plants. He published over 200 scientific papers, many of which were about medicinal plants and their use in treatment.
He graduated two Pharmaceutical Faculties, one in Zagreb in 1928 and another in France, in Nancy, in 1933, where he defended his doctoral dissertation a year later. He was elected a full member of SANU in Belgrade in 1974, and of the French Academy of Pharmacy and the Academy of Cosmetology and Dermatology in Paris in 1965 and 1968.
He was one of the founders and the director of the Institute for Medicinal Plant Research “Dr. Josif Pančić” as well as a long-time director of the Institute for Pharmacognosy at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Belgrade. He is buried in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens at the New Cemetery. Jovan Tucakov actively participated in the work on the preparation of the second Yugoslav Pharmacopoeia titled "Pharmacopoeia FNRJ" (in Latin, "Pharmacopoea Jugoslavica Editio secunda," abbreviated as Ph. Jug. II), published in 1951. In the pharmacopoeia committee, Jovan Tucakov was responsible for herbal drugs. This pharmacopoeia is the richest Yugoslav pharmacopoeia in terms of herbal drugs, officially listing 68 herbal drugs.

Botanical garden

The formation of the Botanical Garden aims to consolidate, display, and preserve the diversity of wild and cultivated medicinal flora of Serbia. It involves the collection of seed and planting material of known medicinal plant species as well as endemic species of Serbia to preserve the gene pool and provide ecological protection, and it involves their introduction into the Botanical Garden. The garden covers an area of approximately 7 ares and is situated at an elevation of 188 meters. It is located within the complex of the Agricultural School with a student dormitory in Valjevo.
The general geographical and climatic conditions of the Valjevo region are influenced by its geographic position, with the proximity of the vast Pannonian Basin on one side and the transition from flatlands to hilly-mountainous areas characterized by a pronounced terrain fragmentation on the other side. The mountain ridge extending from upper Ljig to lower Drina and along the southern edge of the Pannonian Basin is referred to differently in geographical literature. Jovan Cvijić named them the Podrinje-Valjevo Mountains because they extend through the lower Podrinje and the southern hinterland of Valjevo. These mountains have significant length and are generally oriented in a parallel direction.
Stretching about 117 km, these are the longest Serbian mountains after the border region of Stara Planina. This mountain ridge reduces the impact of cold winds from the north and warm winds from the south, increases precipitation, and enhances the flow of numerous streams of pure mountain water. All this contributes to the great diversity of plant life in the Podrinje-Valjevo Mountains. The climatic conditions of the Valjevo region can be characterized as moderately continental.