36 U.S. Code § 153502 - Purposes

to establish, develop, operate, and maintain for the benefit of the people of the United States an educational and scientific center in the form of one or more tropical botanical gardens, together with facilities such as libraries, herbaria, laboratories, and museums that are appropriate and necessary for encouraging and conducting research in basic and applied tropical botany;

to foster and encourage fundamental research about tropical plant life and to encourage research and study of the uses of tropical flora in agriculture, forestry, horticulture, medicine, and other sciences;

to disseminate through publications and other media the knowledge about basic and applied tropical botany acquired at the gardens;

to collect and cultivate tropical flora of every nature and origin and to preserve for the people of the United States species of tropical plant life threatened with extinction; and

to provide a beneficial facility that will contribute to the education, instruction, and recreation of the people of the United States.