Botanical Garden of Florence
Palms
All collections
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The collection is mostly made of exotic specimen and it has been built up from the 18th century onwards, with material collected during non-European trips to South America, Africa and Indonesia. Other specimen were sent from botanical gardens in Italy (Genoa, Pisa, Rome, Palermo, Naples, Cagliari) and abroad (Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Coimbra, Bogor in Indonesia) or donated by botanists and enthusiasts.
Very old and monumental specimen are those of Brahea armata and Washingtonia filifera, that can be found out around the Laghetto area, towards Via La Pira.
Nowadays, the collection consists of more than 100 specimen, most of them cultivated in pots and housed during the winter season either in a section of the Cold Greenhouse and, as to the entities with higher temperature requirements, also in the Warm Greenhouse. Since 2005, two specific areas (called quadri) have been destinated to open-ground cultivation of different species.
In addition to the historical value of its specimen, such as the Sabal palmetto, raised from a seed donated by the Botanical Garden of Palermo in 1955, the collection has got a significant scientific value, as it houses specimen of species such as Basselinia glabrata, Acoelorra phewrightii and Arenga engleri, first described at the end of the 19th century by Odoardo Beccari, a Florentine naturalist and explorer.