Brassica and Sinapis Seeds in Medieval Archaeological Sites: An Example of Multiproxy Analysis for Their Identification and Ethnobotanical Interpretation

Bosi, Giovanna; Felice, Simona De; Wilkinson, M. J.; Allainguillaume, Joël; Arru, Laura; Nascimbene, Juri; Buldrini, Fabrizio

doi:10.3390/plants11162100

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 56 publications

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“…From a historical and scientific perspective, the importance of this herbarium is inestimable [8,9,30]. On a European scale, it contains the oldest specimens of some species currently used for food, ornament or medicinal purposes [31][32][33][34] that were introduced from the New World (e.g. Mirabilis jalapa L., Nicotiana tabacum L., Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., Solanum lycopersicum L.), from Africa, or central and eastern Asia (e.g.…”

Section: The Herbarium Of Ulisse Aldrovandimentioning

confidence: 99%

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Buldrini,

Alessandrini,

Mossetti

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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We analysed the spatially explicit floristic information available in the herbarium of Ulisse Aldrovandi (1551–1586) to track floristic changes in the surroundings of Bologna across five centuries. Aldrovandi's data were compared with the Flora della Provincia di Bologna by Girolamo Cocconi (1883) and the Floristic Database of Emilia-Romagna (1965–2021). We explored potential variations in native range and life forms composition, and habitat affinity of the species in the three floras, also contrasting between native and alien species. Native species, mainly in terms of variations of hydro-hygrophytes, chamaephytes and therophytes, provide clear signals of human disturbance and habitat loss. Signals of climate change are provided by the high-mountain species, that were comparably rare between Aldrovandi and current flora and more represented in Cocconi, probably reflecting the effect of the Little Ice Age. Our findings also indicate the increasing importance of alien species from the Renaissance onwards. In this perspective, Aldrovandi's herbarium preserves the memory of the first signs of a radical transformation of the European flora and habitats. Finally, the study warns about the risk of dismissing herbaria and herbarium specimens collection, which would cause irreparable lacunas in our botanical memory, hindering our ability to predict biodiversity trajectories.

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Section: The Herbarium Of Ulisse Aldrovandimentioning

confidence: 99%

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Buldrini,

Alessandrini,

Mossetti

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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New crops in the 1st millennium ce in northern Italy

Bosi,

Castiglioni,

Mazzanti

et al. 2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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In order to identify new crops in the 1st millennium ce in northern Italy, a complex and diversified territory, archaeobotanical macroremains from 155 sites dating between the 2nd century bce and 12th century ce were analysed. In more than half of the sites, taxa were encountered that had never previously been recorded from the area. The new crops are about 30, mainly (~ 70%) fruit plants in the broad sense, which have a clear peak in this time period. Based on the available data, the most prominent time for the introduction of new food plants (both imports and cultivars) seems to have been the Roman Imperial period (1st–2nd century ce), but also later, in Late Antiquity (3rd–6th century ce) and the Middle Ages (7th–12 century ce), there was no lack of new arrivals. Some fruit trees, such as Prunus persica (peach) and Pinus pinea (stone pine) immediately played an important role, and have continued to do so over time, as these are still grown in the area now.

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Exotic species in the Erbario Estense: new plants from the world to sixteenth-century Italy

Vicentini,

Buldrini,

Romagnoli

et al. 2024

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

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Renaissance herbaria may provide precious information on exotic plants known or even introduced in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD. In the Erbario Estense, preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Modena (northern Italy), there are 14 species considered as allochthonous neophytes or not present in the Italian flora. First, we accurately verified the taxa identification; then, we searched for the same species in the other coeval Italian Renaissance herbaria and collected the information present in the written sources of the second half of the 1500s (concerning, above all, the use of these species as medicinal plants); finally, we paid attention to their current uses in ethnobotanical tradition and their market value. For 12 taxa, we could confirm the former identification; whereas for 2, we came to a different conclusion; the comparison with other Renaissance herbaria, particularly Aldrovandi’s, greatly helped this evaluation process. The species treated here are not placed according to a precise order nor do they have particular medicinal values in common: probably, the specimens were simply added to the existing nucleus, as the species were known or were proven to be rather useful. We shall be able to gain further knowledge when it shall be possible to study all the remaining species. In any case, the Erbario Estense is an important testimony for sixteenth-century botany, that contains some of the most ancient specimens of exotic species that are of common use in large parts of the world today. Graphical abstract

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Brassica and Sinapis Seeds in Medieval Archaeological Sites: An Example of Multiproxy Analysis for Their Identification and Ethnobotanical Interpretation

Cited by 4 publications

References 56 publications

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

Botanical memory: five centuries of floristic changes revealed by a Renaissance herbarium (Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1551–1586)

New crops in the 1st millennium ce in northern Italy

Exotic species in the Erbario Estense: new plants from the world to sixteenth-century Italy

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