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The Botanical Garden of the University of Bari was established in 1955 and now covers an area of 1 hectare. The first location chosen for the construction of the garden was not very big, therefore it did not allow planting trees, shrubs and flowers according to ecological criteria; eventually, only nine flower beds were created on two levels, with an altitude difference of 6.5 ft.

In 1964, the surface available doubled its size and the new area was organized with a prominent display of the regional flora. Within the garden, scientific research, teaching and guided tours are regularly carried out especially for school groups from all over this Italian region.

Inside the University, there is the Botanical Garden Museum where the Herbarium Horti Botanici Barensis is kept: this priceless repository consists of about 37.000 dried botanical specimens (a big part of them comes from the Apulian territory, while there are many from all over Italy and the rest of the world), and the “Xylotomotheca”. The latter is basically a collection of the wood of several tree species among the most representative of the Italian flora, as well as some exotic varieties cultivated in Italy.

BOTANICAL FEATURES

The collection of palms is quite remarkable and includes : Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis), California palms (Washingtonia filifera), Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei), date palms (Phoenix dactylifera), and wild date palms (Phoenix reclinata).

A collection of Lithops, the so-called “living stones”, has been recently added.
Among the species of the Apulian flora, there is the Apulian berry (Acinos suaveolens), Saxicolous alysus, baskets of gold (Aurinia saxatilis), arum lilies (Arum apulum), Campanula versicolor, the cornflower of Leuca (Centaurea leucadea), Cistus clusii, the autumn mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis), the white water lily (Nymphaea alba), the wild peony (Paeonia mascula), and the chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus).

Orchid species are represented by many genera including Ophrys spp., Orchis spp., Cephalanthera spp., and Dactylorhiza spp.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)