New light on a so far neglected heirloom of sixteenth century botany

Among the sixteenth century herbaria preserved in Bologna (Northern Italy), there is an anonymous herbarium (so far provisionally referred to as ‘Aldrovandi’s School’), which has been totally neglected until today: we tried therefore to shed light on this work thanks to a botanical, historical, codicological and palaeographical analysis. The herbarium, that consists of one bound volume with 216 pages, dated between 1568 and (at the latest) the beginning of the 1600s, previously belonging to Antonio Bertoloni’s library. The watermarks present are the same as in Ulisse Aldrovandi’s manuscripts preserved in the Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. There are 231 exsiccata, belonging to 182 species as currently circumscribed, most of which are common in continental Europe and northern Italy, particularly in Emilia-Romagna. At least five different authors have been recognised in the handwritten identifications of the specimens, which are however limited to 96 cases out of 231, sometimes with notable errors. The nomenclature adopted by one of the compilers constantly follows Mattioli’s Discorsi edition of 1568; the others mostly use vernacular names. Globally, this work has to be considered as unfinished and is probably the product of a very diverse group of people, with different skills and functions, operating in Bologna’s botanical garden during the second half of the 1500s. The work was carried on independently, without the supervision of any scientist; in particular, Aldrovandi’s participation can be excluded. Therefore, until new light is shed on the possible identity of the authors, we propose to name this herbarium as «Anonimo Bolognese». Graphic abstract: (Figure presented.)