Il catalogo dell'Orto Botanico di Genova redatto da Domenico Viviani nel 1819

Description

Domenico Viviani (1772-1840), called upon to hold the Botany and Natural Science chair at Genoa University, began the establishment of the new Botanical Garden in 1803. In 1818, upon the request of the Treasurer of the University, Proferror Viviani wrote the first catalogue of the plants present in that priod in the Botanical Garden, "comprising 903 different specie". A handwritten revision of the catalogue was completed in 1819 and gave a definitive view of the plant collections of the garden. There were 1011 species, belonging to 510 genera and subdivided into 109 families; 482 exotic species amounted to about 47% of the entire collection in that period (at present the exotic specie make up 75% of the whole). The criteria for the garden chosen by Viviani are quite clear: he was not looking for rare exotic specimens, but chose mainly Eurpean plants with medicinal or officinal properties. The presence of some species described by Viviani a few years before the edition of the catalogue, and some other plants he was studying and defined as new taxa a few years later, is worthy of note.

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