The botanic garden of Moscow State University is the oldest Russian establishment of its kind that still exists on its original site, and was founded by Peter the Great in 1706 as a Apothecary where medicinal plants were grown and studied by students of the Medical School. It was transformed into a botanic garden proper in 1805. The park has approximately 200 types of shrubs and trees, some of which are 300 years old, and the collection in includes a willow that is the oldest tree in central Moscow and a larch planted by Peter the Great himself. The Garden's orangeries contain a large collection of tropical and subtropical plants, many of which were donated to the garden at the beginning of the 19th Century