The Botanical Gardens were established in 1919 by Harrison Smith, a physics professor who at age 37 left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to dedicate the rest of his life to botany in Tahiti. He introduced to the islands a range of tropical shrubs, trees and flowers from throughout the world, some of them became important local products. The gardens are laced with footpaths that wend their way through acres of well-tended palms, hibiscus, elephant ears, bamboo, bananas and many other species. Located in the gardens is the Gauguin Museum with exhibits chronicling the life of Tahiti's most famous former resident. The walls of the museum are covered with documents and photograpghs from the Gauguin era, along with reproductions of his work. Ironically, the Gauguin Museum contains no original works by Gauguin. The finest original paintings exhibited are those by Constance Gibbon Cummings, an English woman who stayed in French Polynesia for six months in 1877. Outside the museum is a two-meter tall tiki from Raivavae in the Austral group. The Botanical Gardens & Gauguin Museum are located near Papeari on Tahiti Nui, near the isthmus with Tahiti Iti. This picture was taken on 13 August 2009. Thank you for viewing, commenting, and favs, Sig...