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At a European level, Tropaeolum minus is the first species of this genus that arrived in our continent, around 1570, immediately used as an ornamental, vegetable and pharmaceutical plant. According to Italian sources, instead, T. minus arrived in Italy only in 1642: the species of this genus which was known in Italy at the time was T. majus, imported in 1596. However, in the Italian Renaissance herbaria, there are four specimens dated to the last decades of 1500, clearly recognisable as T. minus, which would confirm its import around 1570. Thanks to the analysis of these herbarium specimens and documental sources of the second half of the XVI century (Ulisse Aldrovandi's manuscripts and watercolour plates, the lists of species cultivated in that period in the principal Italian botanical gardens, the manuscript code I cinque libri di piante by Pietro Antonio Michiel), it is possible to demonstrate that the arrival of T. minus in Italy has to be redated at the second half of the XVI century. Furthermore, this work allowed the specimens of Tropaeolum preserved in the Erbario Aldrovandi to be identified correctly, which were formerly attributed to T. majus following the Italian scientific literature available so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin of herbaria represented a revolution in the history of botany. An analysis of the earliest herbaria points to Bologna and Ferrara (Italy) as the cradle of this innovation. Ferrara, the seat of the Court of Este, was a hotspot of scientific humanism during the first half of the sixteenth century. Some evidence indicates that the physician and humanist Nicolò Leoniceno played a role in opening the way for this new science. Bologna was likewise a center of diffusion of the ars herbaria and Luca Ghini an undisputed leader. From there, the art of making herbaria spread rapidly in Italy and then throughout Europe. Three herbaria were certainly compiled before 1550, five more were completed or initiated in Italy before 1551, and by the end of the century, more than 20 herbaria had been compiled in Europe. In the earliest herbaria, plants were labeled with the names given by Dioscorides, as these were regarded as the "correct" ones. Starting from the middle of the century, however, several major botanical works were published, each one adopting a different nomenclature. This induced some authors to label their herbarium specimens with a rich synonymy. Herbaria offered an unprecedented opportunity for scientific communication: Dried plant specimens could be sent everywhere, so that any botanist could find out the meaning that colleagues abroad gave to a given plant name. Thus, for the first time in history, herbaria allowed a commonly accepted nomenclature to be established, a prerequisite for the development of a European scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renaissance herbaria may provide precious information on exotic plants known or even introduced in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD. In the Erbario Estense, preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Modena (northern Italy), there are 14 species considered as allochthonous neophytes or not present in the Italian flora. First, we accurately verified the taxa identification; then, we searched for the same species in the other coeval Italian Renaissance herbaria and collected the information present in the written sources of the second half of the 1500s (concerning, above all, the use of these species as medicinal plants); finally, we paid attention to their current uses in ethnobotanical tradition and their market value. For 12 taxa, we could confirm the former identification; whereas for 2, we came to a different conclusion; the comparison with other Renaissance herbaria, particularly Aldrovandi's, greatly helped this evaluation process. The species treated here are not placed according to a precise order nor do they have particular medicinal values in common: probably, the specimens were simply added to the existing nucleus, as the species were known or were proven to be rather useful. We shall be able to gain further knowledge when it shall be possible to study all the remaining species. In any case, the Erbario Estense is an important testimony for sixteenth-century botany, that contains some of the most ancient specimens of exotic species that are of common use in large parts of the world today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sixteenth century was a golden age for botany, a time when numerous naturalists devoted themselves to the study and documentation of plant diversity. A very prominent figure among them was the German physician, botanist, and traveler Leonhard Rauwolf (1535?–1596), famous for his travel account and luxurious book herbarium containing plants from the Near East. Here, we focus on the less studied, early book herbaria of Rauwolf. These form a three-volume plant collection bound in leather and gold, which contains over 600 plants that Rauwolf collected between 1560 and 1563 in S. France and N. Italy when he was a student of medicine. We show the botanical value of Rauwolf's early book herbaria, exemplified by two exotic American specimens, namely one of the oldest surviving specimens of tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), collected in Italy, and the oldest known French record of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica). These well-preserved specimens indicate that Rauwolf was eager to collect exotic plants already in his early botanical steps. We further discuss Rauwolf's professional botanical network during his student years and suggest that the famous Swiss botanist Johann Bauhin (1541–1613), friend and companion of Rauwolf during his field excursions and their medical studies in Montpellier, has played a significant role in the compilation of this precious historical plant collection. We also show that Leonhart Fuchs (and not Carolus Clusius) extensively annotated the three book herbaria. Finally, we reconstruct the story of making of the book herbaria, as evidenced through observations of paper watermarks and handwritten texts in the book volumes, and show that all four book herbaria of Rauwolf were probably bound between 1577 and 1582. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Erbario Estense, preserved in the Archivio Segreto Estense (Modena State Archives, Italy), is one of the very few sixteenth century herbaria still existing today. Among its exsiccata are a dozen species coming from the Americas, one of which is tobacco. The author of the specimen calls the plant Tabacho, ouer Herba Regina; Camus and Penzig, in the late nineteenth century, identify it as Nicotiana tabacum and affirm that it could be the most ancient direct proof of the presence of this plant in Italy. Today, attribution of the specimen to the above-mentioned species is certain and, according to the studies carried out for the present research, only three other sixteenth century exsiccata of N. tabacum still exist, all of them preserved in the Erbario Aldrovandi in Bologna. Therefore, the specimen of the Erbario Estense is extremely precious from a historical and scientific viewpoint. Tobacco was certainly known by the simplists who were working at that epoch in the lively scientific and medical environment of Ferrara, even if, according to documentary sources, real pharmacological use of the plant seems to have taken place only in successive phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]