The main Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, officially known as the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Komarov Botanical Institute's Botanical Garden of Peter the Great, is the oldest botanical garden in Russia and the best-known one out of botanical gardens of Saint Petersburg, the other two belonging respectively to Saint Petersburg State University and Saint Petersburg Forestry Technical University. It consists of outdoor and indoor collections situated on Aptekarsky Island in Saint Petersburg and belongs to the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is 18.9 ha in area, and is bordered by Aptekarsky Prospekt, Prof. Popov Street, as well as the embankments of the Karpovka and Bolshaya Neva rivers.

John Goldie was a Scottish-born botanist, author, and miller. He is credited with recording the existence of fourteen plant species previously unknown to science including Dryopteris goldieana, Stellaria longipes and Drosera linearis.