Not just a garden of simples: arranging the growing floristic diversity in the Leiden Botanical Garden (1594–1740)

Abstract

Modern botanical gardens harbour collections that are usually a mixture of exotic and indigenous plants, frequently linked to the history of the garden. Their purpose is to awe or please their visitors, to stimulate curiosity, raise awareness about the human impact on the environment and sometimes to actively preserve species that are threatened in their natural habitats. The earliest botanical gardens, however, started as places where prospective physicians learned to recognise medicinal plants. In this chapter we examine

several herbaria collected in, or related to, the Leiden Hortus botanicus, from its origins to the mid-eighteenth century, showing how the collection, cultivation and identification of plant species intertwined with the education of physicians and pharmacists.