Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Botanic garden
(917 words)

The first botanic gardens appeared in the mid-16th century. at the northern Italian universities of Padua (founded 1545) and Pisa (founded ca. 1547). Although monastery gardens had had functions of conservation and education since the Carolingian reforms, their chief purpose was to supply the local populace with herbal remedies (Plants, medicinal). The university gardens that began to appear in the Renaissance did not cultivate plants for use, but for presentation. They were solely intended to serve instruction in botany and pharmaceutics, and …

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Müller-Wille, Staffan, “Botanic garden”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_017737>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160907



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