The Hortus botanicus of

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

is the oldest

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the old Leiden Observatory building.

History

In 1587 the young University of Leiden asked for permission from the mayor of Leiden to establish a ''hortus academicus'' behind the university building, for the benefit of the medical students. The request was granted in 1590, and the famous

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Carolus Clusius (1526–1609) was appointed as

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

. Clusius arrived in Leiden in 1593. His knowledge, reputation, and international contacts allowed him to set up a very extensive

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

. Clusius also urged the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC) to collect plants and (dried) plant specimens in the colonies. The original garden set up by Clusius was small (about 35 by 40 meters), but contained more than 1000 different plants. The collecting of

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

(from the Indies) and sub-tropical (from the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

) plants was continued under Clusius' successors. Especially Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738, prefect from 1709 to 1730), contributed greatly to the fame of the Hortus with his efforts to collect new plants and specimens, and with his publications, such as a catalog of the plants then to be found in the Hortus. Another major contribution to the collections was made by

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

, a German physician who was employed on

Deshima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it ...

(

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) by the VOC from 1823 until his expulsion by Japan in 1829. During that period he collected many dried and living plants from all over Japan (as well as animals,

ethnographical Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

objects, maps, etc.), and sent them to Leiden. The first

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

s appeared in the Hortus in the second half of the 17th century, the monumental Orangery was built between 1740 and 1744. From its original plan the Hortus was expanded in 1736 by

Adriaan van Royen Adriaan van Royen (11 November 1704 in Leiden – 28 February 1779 in Leiden) was a Dutch botanist. He was a professor at Leiden University and is associated with Carl Linnaeus. He is best known for his work on flora of Southeast Asia. Adr ...

and

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, and in 1817 by

Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck (26 July 1787 – 12 December 1837) was a German botanist and pharmacologist, who was born in Schloss Reichenberg near Reichelsheim (Odenwald). He was a younger brother to naturalist Christian Gottfrie ...

and

Sebald Justinus Brugmans Sebald Justinus Brugmans (24 March 1763, Franeker – 22 July 1819, Leiden) was a Dutch botanist and physician. He was the son of naturalist Anton Brugmans (1732-1789). Brugmans studied philosophy, mathematics and physics at the Universities of ...

. In 1857, a part was used for building the new Leiden Observatory.

Collection

From a historical perspective, the old

Tuliptree ''Liriodendron'' () is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their ...

(''Liriodendron tulipifera'') from 1716,

Date plum ''Diospyros lotus'', with common names date-plum, Caucasian persimmon, or lilac persimmon, is a widely cultivated species of the genus ''Diospyros'', native to subtropical southwest Asia and southeast Europe. Its English name derives from the sma ...

(''Diospyros lotus'') from 1739, Ginkgo (''Ginkgo biloba'') from 1785 and Golden Chain (''Laburnum anagyroides'') from 1725 to 1818, are worth mentioning. The greenhouses with '' Victoria amazonica'' and other

plants, and the large collection of sub-tropical plants in the recently renovated Orangery and the new Winter Garden draw many visitors. The park itself is an oasis inside the old city, with many more interesting plants and trees. A

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

in honour of Von Siebold opened in 1990. A reconstruction of Clusius' original garden, based on a plant list dating from the end of the 16th century, was opened in 2009. ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014795 Kas met Victoria Regia in de Hortus Botanicus

ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014795 Kas met Victoria Regia in de Hortus Botanicus

From a scientific point of view, the Leiden Hortus is known for its collections of Asian Araceae (among which the Giant Arum ''

Amorphophallus titanum ''Amorphophallus'' (from Ancient Greek , "without form, misshapen" + ''phallos'', "penis", referring to the shape of the prominent spadix) is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the ''Arum'' family ...

''), ''

Hoya Hoya may refer to: Places *Hoya, Germany, a city in Lower Saxony, Germany *County of Hoya, a former state in present Germany * Hoya, Tokyo, now incorporated within Nishi-tokyo, Tokyo, Japan * Hoya, Hpruso, a place in Hpruso Township, Kayah, Myanma ...

'', ''

Dischidia ''Dischidia'' is a genus of plants in the “dog-bane” family Apocynaceae, collectively known as the “milkweeds” (true perennial milkweeds in the ''Apocynaceae'' are found in the genus ''Asclepias''). They are epiphytes, native to tropical ...

'', ''

Nepenthes ''Nepenthes'' () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mos ...

'',

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s and one of the biggest collections of Asian orchids in the world. File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014798 Kas in de Hortus Botanicus.jpeg, Greenhouse 1890-1900 File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014796 Kas met Victoria Regia in de Hortus Botanicus.jpeg, ''Victoria amazonica'' in bloom

References

* Karstens, WKH and Kleibrink, H (1982) ''De Leidse Hortus: een botanische erfenis''. Uitgeverij Waanders. * Schwartz, L (Ed.) (1990) ''Flora in Leiden: de verborgen tuinen van de stad''. SDU.

External links

Hortus botanicus Leiden web siteNationaal Herbarium Nederland web site
{{Authority control Botanical gardens in the Netherlands Tourist attractions in South Holland Leiden University Buildings and structures in Leiden 1590 establishments in the Dutch Republic Biology and natural history in the Dutch Republic