‘Inestimable importance’: 500-year-old cache of pressed flowers reveals new secrets
A collection of pressed flowers taken from the hillsides of Bologna 500 years ago is unlocking knowledge about how the climate ccrisis and human migration is changing landscapes in northern Italy.
Picked between 1551 and 1586 by the Renaissance naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi, the 5,000 delicately cut and dried plants form one of the richest collections of its time.
Aldrovandi’s original purpose was to identify plant species and understand which could be used for pharmaceutical purposes. Nearly half a millennia later, his carefully pressed specimens are helping botanists document the enormous changes that have taken place in the surrounding landscapes, according to new research published by the Royal Society.
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