The so-called Marsili Herbarium is named after Giovanni Marsili, Prefect of the Botanical Garden from 1760 to 1794 and possessor of a book collection which, enriched by that of his successor Antonio Bonato, constitute the initial collection of the Library of the Botanical Garden.

Bust of Giovanni Marsili (from the collection Botanists portrait collection)

The herbarium is composed of four packets of blue paper sheets with dried plants almost always accompanied by a card with the name, but generally devoid of data relating to the specimen collection. The herbarium sheets are collected in folders that include samples of plants belonging to the same genus. The sequence of the folders was probably organised by Augusto Béguinot, who began studying the Marsili Herbarium during the period when he was Prefect of the Botanical Garden and chose the alphabetical order by name of the Linnean genus as cataloguing criterion.

View the entire Marsili Herbarium in Phaidra.

» Fra' Giorgio Herbarium