Alfonso Palanza (1851–1899): a late nineteenth-century Italian botanist and his herbaria

Abstract

During his years in Naples, Alfonso Palanza (1851–1899) devoted himself to the study of the flora of Abruzzo and Naples and to the arrangement of his “Erbario Generale”. After moving to Apulia, he created the “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium. The “Erbario Generale” consists of approximately 7,000 specimens of both Italian and continental European origin, the latter from the mathematician Magnus Gustaf Mittag-Leffler (1846–1927). The “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium consists of 3,000 specimens from central Apulia. The excellent state of preservation of the specimens and the unique nature of those within the “Flora della Terra di Bari” herbarium clearly suggest that their floristic, taxonomic and nomenclatural study could provide a detailed picture of the floristic biodiversity of Apulia during the period when they were collected.