Argotti Botanic Gardens
| Argotti Botanic Gardens Argotti Botanical Gardens |
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| In the gardens | ||
| Basic data | ||
| place | Floriana | |
| Created | 1855 | |
| Surrounding streets | Triq Vincenzo Bugeja | |
| Buildings | Villa, nymphaeum | |
35 ° 53 '33 " N , 14 ° 30' 8" E
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The Argotti Botanic Gardens or Argotti Botanical Gardens ( Maltese L-Gnien tal-Argotti ) are the botanical gardens of the University of Malta in Floriana on the main Maltese island of Malta . They are listed under number 1147 in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands and are a Grade 1 listed monument .
history
The complex goes back to two private gardens laid out by Knights of Malta in the 18th century . One of them belonged to the knight and later Grand Master of the Order of Malta Manuel Pinto de Fonseca , the other to Bailli Ignatius de Argote y Gusman. After Pinto de Fonseca was elected Grand Master of the Order in 1741, he sold his garden to Argote, who added it to his share. However, the garden remained in private ownership until the end of the order's rule in 1798.
Another origin of the Argotti Gardens is a medicinal herb garden that the knights of the order planted in Fort St Elmo near the Sacra Infermeria in 1674 . At the beginning of British rule over Malta, the medicinal herbs and other botanical examples were brought from St. Elmo to Il-Mall in Floriana, where they were tended by the Carmelite and botanist Carlo Giacinto , who in 1805 became professor of natural history at the University of Malta. After Giacinto's death in 1855, the botanical garden from Il-Mall and other places in Floriana was brought together in the Argotti Gardens by Stefano Zerafa , professor of natural history at the time . Zerafa made significant contributions to the study of the flora of the Maltese islands . He wrote the first standard work on Malta's vegetation Thesaurus of the Flora of the Maltese Islands and was the first to describe the Maltese national plant Cheirolophus crassifolius . Other well-known Maltese botanists, including Alfred Caruana Gatto and John Borg , made additional contributions to the collection of native and Mediterranean plants. The collection of succulents and cacti donated by Borg's widow to the University of Malta in 1945 is also located in Argotti Gardens .
The maintenance of the Argotti Botanic Gardens became the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Malta in 1973, and the inner part has been available to the university again since 1996. Since then, the garden has been extensively renovated and the plant collection restructured. It has been open to the public since April 2018, now under the care of Ambjent Malta .
Collections
The collection of living plants in the Argotti Botanic Gardens consists of exemplary specimens of important plant families that are particularly adapted to the Mediterranean climate . This macroclimate , consisting of two six-month seasons each, a mild rainy season and a hot dry season, prevails - apart from the eponymous Mediterranean region - also in the Cape region of South Africa, west of the Sierra Nevada in California , south of the Atacama Desert in Chile and on the coast West and South Australia . In addition, the botanical garden includes plants from the Canary Islands and Madagascar , as well as succulents and cacti from other areas of America and Africa.
In the gardens there are some full-grown specimens of the species Tetraclinis articulata (sandarac tree), Ficus macrophylla (large-leaved fig), Dracaena draco (Canary Islands dragon tree), Argania spinosa (argan tree), Pheonix rupicola (cliff date palm ), Tipuana patersonia (Norfolk tree ), Lagunaria patersonia tipu ( Quebracho blanco alto , Bolivian ironwood) and Jacaranda mimosifolia (rosewood tree). There are also specimens of Cereus pringlei and a large number of succulent Euphorbiaceae .
The collection is largely structured according to the different plant families, but there is also an area that shows the various microhabitats of the Maltese archipelago with the associated endemic species. In addition to the national plant Cheirolophus crassifolius , specimens of Atriplex lanfrancoi , Helichrysum melitense and Darniella melitensis as well as orchid species native to the Maltese islands can be found here . The collection of cacti and succulents is in a greenhouse and on a roof garden .
Among the more than 1000 vascular plant species of the Maltese islands are represented here: Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine), Rhamnus oleiodes , Pistacia lentiscus (mastic shrub ), Phlomis fruticosa ( shrubby smut ), Erica multiflora (multi-flowered heather), Euphorbia dendroides (tree dendroides Spurge), Myrtus communis (myrtle), Limoniastrum monopetalum (shrub beach lavender) and the endemic plants already mentioned.
Originally native to the Cape region, the nodding wood sorrel came to Malta via the gardens of Floriana, escaped from there and spread as an invasive neophyte over the entire Maltese archipelago.
building
The buildings on the site, which date from the time of Manuel Pinto de Fonseca, include a nymphaeum in the entrance area, several water basins and a small villa, which is now the visitor center.
Web links
- L-Gnien tal-Argotti / Argotti Gardens. (PDF; 426 kB) In: National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. Sovrintendenza tal-Patrimonju Kulturale, December 28, 2012, accessed on February 5, 2020 .
- Nymphaeum at Argotti Gardens. In: The Times of Malta . October 16, 2012, accessed February 5, 2020 .
- Homepage , University of Malta, accessed on February 4, 2020.
- Argotti Botanic Gardens. In: Valleta. The journal. December 2018, accessed February 4, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c History. In: Argotti Botanic Gardens & Resource Center. L-Università ta 'Malta , March 1, 2017, accessed on February 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Ambjent Malta. Government of Malta, 2016, archived from the original on January 25, 2020 ; accessed on January 25, 2020 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Plant Collections. In: Argotti Botanic Gardens & Resource Center. L-Università ta 'Malta, March 1, 2017, accessed on February 4, 2020 .
- ^ Wilhelm Lauer : Climatology. Westermann, 1995, ISBN 3-14-160284-0 , pp. 147-158.
- ↑ Maltese Indigenous and Endemic Flora. In: Argotti Botanic Gardens & Resource Center. L-Università ta 'Malta, August 4, 2016, accessed on February 4, 2020 .