The Hortus botanicus of

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

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. is ...

of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, 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 Leiden Observatory () is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Willebrord Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, with the only older sti ...

building.

History

In 1587 the young

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

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 science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Carolus Clusius Charles de l'Écluse, L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius (19 February 1526 – 4 April 1609), seigneur de Watènes, was an Artois doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th-century scientific horticulturists. Life C ...

(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' ...

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

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

collection. Clusius also urged the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

(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, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

(from the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found i ...

) and

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...

(from the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), 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. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

) plants was continued under Clusius' successors. Especially

Herman Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. .) was a Dutch chemist, botanist, Christian humanist, and ph ...

(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 traveller. 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 (

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

s appeared in the Hortus in the second half of the 17th century, the monumental

Orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

was built between 1740 and 1744. From its original plan the Hortus was expanded in 1736 by Adriaan van Royen and

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, and in 1817 by Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck and

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

. 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'') from 1739,

Ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants, assigned to the gymnosperms. The scientific name is also used as the English common name. The order to which the genus belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, , and ''Ginkgo'' is n ...

(''Ginkgo biloba'') from 1785 and Golden Chain (''Laburnum anagyroides'') from 1725 to 1818, are worth mentioning. The greenhouses with ''

Victoria amazonica ''Victoria amazonica'' is a species of flowering plant, the second largest in the water lily family Nymphaeaceae. It is called Vitória-Régia or Iaupê-Jaçanã ("the Jacanidae, jacana's waterlily") in Brazil and Atun Sisac ("great flower") in ...

'' and other

plants, and the large collection of

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 The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also ...

(among which the Giant Arum ''

Amorphophallus titanum The titan arum (''Amorphophallus titanum'') is a flowering plant in the family Araceae. It has a large unbranched inflorescence; a tall single leaf, branched like a tree; and a heavy tuber which enables the plant to produce the inflorescence. ' ...

''), '' Hoya'', '' Dischidia'', ''

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 m ...

'',

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s and one of the biggest collections of Asian

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

in the world. File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014798 Kas in de Hortus Botanicus.jpeg, Jan Goedeljee: Greenhouse 1890-1900. File:ErfgoedLeiden LEI001014796 Kas met Victoria Regia in de Hortus Botanicus.jpeg, Jan Goedeljee: ''Victoria amazonica'' in bloom. End of the 19th century.

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