Botanical Garden of Florence
Cycads
All collections
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The Botanical Garden's collection of cycads represents a huge botanical heritage. The latest census states about 110 specimen belonging to 8 different genera and about 60 species, some of them present in several, even large duplicates. The only genera not represented in the collection are Microcycas, a monospecific genus to which Microcycas calocoma belongs, and Lepidozamia, with two species belonging. However, specimens belonging to the genera Bowenia, Ceratozamia, Cycas, Dioon, Encephalartos, Macrozamia, Stangeria and Zamia can be seen.
The historical core of the collection dates back to the early 1900s and there are still several specimens of this large private collection (the Garbari collection from Trento) of around 300 plants that were donated to the Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, especially during the years of the last World War, many specimens were lost. New and meaningful acquisitions have just occurred in relatively recent times, in particular thanks to the missions carried out in Central and South America during the 1970s by the botanist Luciano Giugnolini. New plants come from donations of private collections: the Verga collection from Como in the 1960s and 1970s , and more recently, the Bruno collection from Lecce and Munzone from Florence.
Most of the specimen are grown in pots and can be seen all year longin inside the Cold Greenhouse. A nucleus of Cycas revoluta, on the other hand, has perfectly adapted to the Florentine climate, and thrives in the open ground in the frame opposite the entrance to the Cold Greenhouse.