The Conservatoire National des Plantes à Parfum, Médicinales, Aromatiques et Industrielles (4 hectares), formerly known as the Conservatoire National des Plantes Médicinales Aromatiques et Industrielles (CNPMAI), is a nonprofit botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 located on the Route de Nemours, Milly-la-Forêt

Milly-la-Forêt

Milly-la-Forêt is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.-Geology:The Forest of Fontainebleau in the western end of which Milly-la-Forêt lies, is composed of the Oligocene Fontainebleau sands, which are a marine deposit, laid down in an intertidal...

, Essonne

Essonne

Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...

, Île-de-France

Île-de-France (région)

Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged.

The conservatory was established in 1987 by the Plantes Aromatiques et Médicinales (PAM) professional society to preserve medicinal, aromatic, and industrial plants. In 1994 it revised its name and mission to add perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

-related plants, and opened to the public in 2002. Today the garden contains more than 1200 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 planted in two greenhouse

Greenhouse

A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...

s (950 m² and 290 m²) and a variety of gardens including a study garden (40 plots), medieval garden (created 1997), and thematic garden.