Botanical garden of Pisa

The botanical garden of Pisa is a structure didactico-scientist of the department of botany of the univerity of Pisa.

Historic insight

The botanical garden of the university of Pisa was created in 1544 on the initiative of Luca Ghini, médicin and botanist of Imola, with the financial support of the large duke of Tuscany, Cosme Ier de Médicis.

It is oldest Botanical garden world, even if its original localization were different from the current site: the primitive garden was indeed close to the arsenal of Médicis, and was precisely called Jardin of the Arsenal . In 1563, under the control of the botanist Andrea Cesalpino, it was transferred in a second site, the north-eastern sector of the city.

This site did not appear satisfactory, as well because of its bad exposure as for its distance of the university. thus in 1591, the garden was transferred, under the direction of Lorenzo Mazzanga, in its current site close to famous the Place of the miracles. The work, directed by the Fleming Joseph Goedenhuitze, known in Italy under the name of Giuseppe Casabona was completed in 1595, and included also the reorganization of the building which sheltered the Institute of botany with its appendix of the Museum of the Natural science. The main entrance of the garden was open in second half of the 18th century.

The provision of the plants to the intéreiur of the garden, such as it is represented on a level published by Michelagelo Tilli in 1723, was inspired of the guns stylistics commun runs to much of gardens of the time, with allusion to the four elements: the square for the ground, the circle for the sky, the triangle for fire and the basins in direct reference to water. The species were indeed laid out in eight large square plat bands, subdivided themselves in smaller sections of defined geometrical form, dusposées symmetrically around eight fountains with basins.

At the 19th century, the garden undergoes important changes: the arrangement of the large plat bands, dating from XVIe century, was upset to leave the place to smaller plat bands, of rectangular form, intersected with alleys and low walls, in the center of which six fountains survivors of the original basins were touvaient. These transformations, carried out into several stages by the prefects Gaetano Savi and Teodoro Caruel, reflect the new requirements of botany which force to classify and to present the plants according to scientific criteria which highlight biological affinities. At the end of work, one counted 148 plat bands containing more than 2.000 species laid out in a systematic order.

The current overall plan is reached towards the end of the XIXe century, after a last series of modifications and enlargings which increase to approximately 3 hectares the surface covered by the garden.

Collections

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Arboretum

In this sector, which still nowadays reflects the diagram of establishment defined in the 19th century by the prefects Gaetano Savi and Teodoro Caruel, are trees belonging to the groups of the Conifère and of the Amentifère S. the two oldest specimens of the garden are a Magnolia will grandiflora and a Ginkgo biloba , planted in 1787 by the prefect Giorgio Santi. They are actually apart from this sector, in the garden named “garden of the cedar”.

Systematic collection

It includes/understands approximately 45 plat bands in which are represented 550 Espèce S pertaining to 39 families, laid out according to criteria didactico- Systématique S.

Officinal flora

This sector, called “garden of the myrtle” ( Orto del Mirto ) because of presence of a very old specimen of Myrtus communis , accommodates approximately 140 species of officinal plants, of which some are still included in the official pharmacopeia like the ricinus ('' Ricinus communis ''), the digital ('' Digitalis purpurea '').

Watery plants

It is about a collection of species primarily autochtones: some of them as the caltha of the marshes ( Caltha palustris ) are almost extinct in nature, while others, like the paludous hibiscus ( Hibiscus palustris ) and the yellow nénufar ( Nuphar lutea ) are strongly threatened by the water pollution and the cleansing of the wetlands.

Géophytes Mediterranean

It is a collection which includes/understands herbaceous species of the basin of the Mediterranean belonging especially to the kinds Allium , Ornithogalum and Muscari .

Succulent

It is a collection sheltered in a gandre greenhouse which includes/understands Cactaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Crassulaceae as well as specimens of the kinds Aloe and Agave , laid out on the basis of systematic and geographical criteria.

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