Botanical Garden of Florence
Grasses
All collections
Introduction | Acquatic | Citrus fruits | Trees | Wild edible plants | Araceae family | Wild shrubs | Begonias | Bromeliads | Carnivorous | Cycads | Grasses | Medicinals | Tropical orchids | Palms | Pteridophytes | Roses | Serpentinophytes | Succulent plants | Exhibits
This collection is dedicated to the genus Festuca, one of the most important group of grasses in Europe, counting more than 200 specimens belonging to 50 species.
The species have been collected in different areas of Europe but mostly in Italy. A remarkable thing of this collection is to preserve, for different taxonomic entities, specimens taken at the "locus classicus," i.e. the place of first description of the entity.
The collection, which has been incremented since the late 1990s thanks to the collaboration with researchers from the Department of Biology of the University of Florence, focuses on these little-known grasses with multiple uses (agronomy, animal husbandry, street furniture, recovery of degraded areas, maintenance of ski slopes, defense and stabilization of soil in steep areas, construction of sports facilities).
The plants are grown in pots and are placed in the area bordering the Biology Department.