9 
a" 
fairly well established that the garden at Padua was inaugurated 
first and the one at Pisa shortly thereafter. As Professor Longo, 
the present director of the Pisa garden has said, since the date 1545 
for the founding of the Padua garden is substantiated by official 
documents, and since, up to the present, no documents have been 
discovered substantiating 1544 as the date of foundation of the 
Pisa garden, it may be necessary to continue “ the noble contest for 
priority between the two cities without a definite conclusion, with 
the certainty, however, that it is the glory of Italy to 
the first university botanic garden.” ? 
— 
lave instituted 
We may add that a due portion of this glory should be recog- 
nized as belonging to Luca Ghini (b. 1500; d. 1556) who, as noted 
above, was also instrumental in bringing about the establishment of 
the Padua garden as well as the botanic garden in Florence in 1550. 
He became the first director of the Pisa garden in 1547, being suc- 
ceeded by his pupil, Andrea Cesalpino from 1554 to 1558. Ces- 
alpino and Aldrovandi, the first director of the Bologna garden, 
were the first (or perhaps the first after their teacher Ghini) to 
form a herbarium, Cesalpino’s book De Plantis (Florence, 1583) 
is credited with having inaugurated the era of modern botany, while 
his instructor, Ghini, was one of the greatest teachers of botany of 
all time, pupils flocking to him from all over Europe. Surely to 
have had these two men as directors is glory enough to make any 
botanic garden fairly indifferent as to whether it was the first or the 
second to be established. The names of Ghini and his famous pu- 
pil, Cesalpino, are on the Laboratory building of the Brooklyn 
Botanic Garden. 
pany 
Among items of interest seen at Pisa may be mentioned the large 
wax models of the flowers of the “ Zucca” or Gourd (Cucurbita 
Pepo), and longitudinal and cross sections of the ovary showing the 
germination of the pollen-grains on the stigma, and the growth of 
the pollen-tubes through the tissues of the style. This model was 
made by Calamai under the direction of the now famous botanist, 
Amici (1786-1803), for the latter to use at the First Convention 
of Italian Scientists, held at Pisa in 1839. At this meeting Amici 
not only demonstrated the germination of pollen and the course of 
* Longo, Biagio. Le Piante pice notevoli del R. Orto Botanico di Pisa. 
Pisa, 1922. 
