Portugal 2 Euro 2018 Botanic Garden Silver-Plated

In the year 2018 it is 250 years since the Botanical Garden of Ajuda was opened. This garden was designed on behalf of King Don José I to let his children play in it! It was the first Botanical Garden of Portugal and it had the goal of preserving, studying and collecting as many plants as possible. Ajuda is located near Belem on the river Tagus near Lisbon. At the moment there are more than 5000 species of living plants in this garden, which according to Italian structures is built in perfect symmetry. An important tree that can be found in this garden is the Dragoeiro (Dracaena Draco) the Dragon Blood Tree. If the bark of the dragon's blood tree is cut or the leaves are bruised, the plant issues a reddish resin known as dragon's blood. This was already known in the time of the Romans! The Dragon Blood Tree was the inspiration of the illustrator João Fazenda. On this heavily silvered coin the dragon's blood tree is depicted in the centre. Around the tree is the text "250 Anos Jar dim Botanico Da Ajuda" (250 y ears Botanical Garden of Ajuda). At the bottom of the coin is the country name Portugal and the year 2018. This heavily silvered 2 Euro coin is packaged in a plastic coin capsule.