![]() ![]() Historic herbaria can reveal interesting stories beyond the plants themselves, and the story of the En Tibi is a fascinating one. Historical timeline of 16th-century Italian herbaria. These collections comprise the earliest surviving Italian herbaria along with two anonymous 16 th-century collections, namely the Ducale Erbario Estense (hereafter “Estense herbarium”) kept in Modena, and the En Tibi herbarium ( Fig 1). Remarkable examples are the herbaria of Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) kept in Bologna, of Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603) and Michele Merini kept in Florence, and the “Erbario Cibo” kept in Rome (hereafter “Rome herbarium”), attributed to either Gherardo Cibo (1512–1600) or Francesco Petrollini. Although acknowledged as the “inventor” of the herbarium, Ghini did not leave an herbarium of his own, but several of his disciples did. 1490–1556), professor of medical botany at the University of Bologna, was a crucial figure in this transition. The collected plants were no longer air-dried but pressed-dried among paper sheets, mounted and bound into books–the first herbaria. More than that, the idea that the ancients had described all existing species was abandoned, and an increasing interest in plant taxonomy triggered the first botanical expeditions and the discovery of new species. Renaissance Italian scholars radically changed this state of affairs, giving birth to the discipline of botany as we know it today : the plants mentioned by the ancient authors were no longer illustrated through obscure descriptions but by reference to actual plant specimens. These repeated reproductions resulted in copies that scarcely resembled the lost originals rather, they were filled with vague plant descriptions which, sometimes accompanied by rough and fantastical illustrations, were erroneous and even dangerous for human health. For centuries long, apothecaries and physicians applied the remedies prescribed in the herbals of classical authors such as Dioscorides and Pliny, copied and translated in many languages, illustrated, edited and extended with additional plants and treatments. Our multidisciplinary approach can serve as a guideline for deciphering other anonymous herbaria, kept safely “hidden” in treasure rooms of universities, libraries and museums.īotany emerged as a practice of medicine. The En Tibi herbarium is a Renaissance masterpiece of art and science, representing the quest for truth in herbal medicine and botany. Other people were apparently involved in the compilation and offering of this precious gift to a yet unknown person, possibly the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I. The En Tibi was probably a work on commission for Petrollini, who provided the plant material for the book. We attribute the En Tibi herbarium to Francesco Petrollini, a neglected 16 th-century botanist, to whom also belongs, as clarified herein, the controversial “Erbario Cibo” kept in Rome. Rejecting the previous origin hypothesis (Ferrara, 1542–1544), we show that the En Tibi was made in Bologna around 1558. We follow an integrative approach that includes a botanical similarity estimation of the En Tibi with contemporary herbaria (Aldrovandi, Cesalpino, “Cibo”, Merini, Estense) and analysis of the book’s watermark, paper, binding, handwriting, Latin inscription and the morphology and DNA of hairs mounted under specimens. Its Latin inscription, translated as “Here for you a smiling garden of everlasting flowers”, suggests that this herbarium was a gift for a patron of the emerging botanical science. 500 dried plants, made in the Renaissance scholarly circles that developed botany as a distinct discipline. The 16 th-century Italian En Tibi herbarium is a large, luxurious book with c. ![]() We reveal the enigmatic origin of one of the earliest surviving botanical collections. Anastasia Stefanaki, Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 1, * Henk Porck, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 2 Ilaria Maria Grimaldi, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 1, 3 Nikolaus Thurn, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 4 Valentina Pugliano, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 5 Adriaan Kardinaal, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, 6 Jochem Salemink, Investigation, Writing – original draft, 7 Gerard Thijsse, Investigation, Writing – review & editing, 1 Claudine Chavannes-Mazel, Investigation, Methodology, 8 Erik Kwakkel, Investigation, Methodology, 9 and Tinde van Andel, Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing 1, 10 ![]()
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