Gewächshaus für tropische Nutzpflanzen

The Gewächshaus für tropische Nutzpflanzen is a botanical garden specializing in tropical crops, maintained by the University of Kassel. It is located in greenhouses at Steinstraße 19, Witzenhausen, Hesse, Germany, and open several afternoons per week.

The greenhouses were first established in 1902 to support the colonial School of Agriculture, Trade and Industry (founded 1898), and then consisted of a central palm house with adjacent tropical and cold houses. These houses were replaced in 1937 with larger facilities which were extensively damaged in World War II. Postwar reconstruction was slow and the greenhouses did not resume operation until 1957 under the auspices of the Deutschen Instituts für Tropische und Subtropische Landwirtschaft GmbH (DITSL). A modern greenhouse of 1200 m2 was built in 1965, with many improvements in 1971. Seminar rooms totaling 300 m2 and a research area of 150 m2 were added in 1987 and 1995 respectively.

Today the greenhouses proper are divided into five areas: a 10 m high palm house of 240 m2 as well as a coffee house, cocoa house, field cultures room, and orangery, each with a floor area of 225 m2 and 5 m high.