Background
Luigi Anguillara was born around 1512 in Anguillara, Sabazia, Italy. Unfortunately, little is known of Anguillara’s early life.
Woodcut of Houseleek used to soothe inflammations of the skin, woodcut 16th century, page 277 from Semplici … liquali in piu pareri à diversi nobili huomini scritti appaiono, by Luigi Anguillara, and Giovanni Marinello, Vinegia 1561.
Anguillara, Luigi (ca 1512-70). Semplici... Liquali in piu Pareri à diversi nobili huomini scritti. Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1561.
Woodcut of Houseleek used to soothe inflammations of the skin, woodcut 16th century, page 277 from Semplici … liquali in piu pareri à diversi nobili huomini scritti appaiono, by Luigi Anguillara, and Giovanni Marinello, Vinegia 1561.
Luca Ghini, 1490 – 1556, Italian physician and botanist, notable as the creator of the first recorded herbarium, as well as the first botanical garden in Europe.
Botanist herbalist scientist author scholars
Luigi Anguillara was born around 1512 in Anguillara, Sabazia, Italy. Unfortunately, little is known of Anguillara’s early life.
In 1539 Anguillara became associated with Luca Ghini at the latter’s private botanical garden, first in Bologna, then in Pisa in 1544. Two years later, on 20 August 1546, Anguillara became the first director of the botanical garden in Padua, the oldest of its kind in Europe. He remained at Padua, supervising a garden that received favorable notice from many distinguished visitors, until 1561; then, having incurred the displeasure of Aldrovandi and Mattioli, he moved to Ferrara. He became herbalist to the duke of Ferrara and continued his botanical travels; whether he also taught medicine at Ferrara is unclear. He probably died of the plague, notwithstanding his efforts to prepare an antidote of theriaca.
Anguillara’s only known book, the Semplici, was written over a long period (1549-1560). It is divided into fourteen pareri (“opinions”), each of which is dedicated to a contemporary Italian physician. Following the usual procedure of the times, the book is devoted principally to the identification of the plants known to Dioscorides and the other ancient writers on materia medica. Because of his travels in Greece, Italy, France, and Asia Minor and his great personal knowledge of plant life throughout the Mediterranean basin, Anguillara was among the best-equipped of sixteenth-century botanists to make such a study.
He died on September of 1570 in Ferrara, Italy.
Anguillara’s major achievement was in becoming the first director of the botanical garden in Padua, which was the oldest of its kind in Europe.
Anguillara’s most known book titled, the Semplici, and it was written over a long period of time from 1549 to 1560. This work was devoted principally to the identification of the plants known to Dioscorides and the other ancient writers on materia medica. Because of his travels in Greece, Italy, France, and Asia Minor and his great personal knowledge of plant life throughout the Mediterranean basin, Anguillara was among the best-equipped of sixteenth-century botanists to make such a study.
Approximately 1,540 plants were discussed by Anguillara, but in no discernible systematic order. Each plant is described, its classical name established (often with vernacular synonyms appended), and its medical and alimentary uses mentioned, along with its habitat, literary references, and the location where Anguillara found it. The descriptions are sufficiently full and accurate that the majority of his plants have been identified by modern historians of botany. Frequently cited by seventeenth-century botanists, the Semplici still remains an important source for historical nomenclature and floristic studies. He is commemorated today by the genus Anguillaria (Liliaceae) named in his honor by Robert Brown (1810).
