Starting from 12 June 2024, the Botanical Museum will host the temporary thematic exhibition «The microcosm of galls: The collection of Alessandro Trotter», curated by Tiziana N. Beltrame and Luca Tonetti, a third mission project of the DiSSGeA, Department of Sciences Historical, Geographical and Antiquity, created in collaboration with the Botanical Garden and the University Center for Museums of the University of Padua.
For the first time the public can discover the collection of galls – manifestations of anomalous growth of plant tissues caused by external organisms such as insects, mites, bacteria, fungi – collected by Alessandro Trotter (1874-1967), student of the Prefect of the Garden botanist Pier Andrea Saccardo (1845-1920)
This cecidological herbarium (from cecidio, synonymous with gall), which is of particular interest not only from a naturalistic point of view, but also from a historical-scientific and anthropological point of view, was donated to the University in 1954 together with Trotter’s personal library, the cecidological miscellany and to the archive, now deposited in the Vincenzo Pinali and Giovanni Marsili Historical Library of Medicine and Botany.
On Wednesday 12 June at 6pm, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition, the Botanical Theater hosts a round table entitled «Reflections on biodiversity between history and science: the role of botanical collections», with the aim of retracing, starting from the historical collections, the evolution of the concept of gall: from the plant pathological and teratological vision typical of the 19th century to the contemporary ecosystem vision more sensitive to interspecific interactions and the way in which living organisms interact by transforming their environment.
In addition to the curators, Elena Canadelli, scientific director of the Botanical Museum, the geneticist Mauro Mandrioli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) and the epistemologist and philosopher of biology Elena Gagliasso (Sapienza University of Rome) will be present.
After the event, the curators will conduct a guided tour of the exhibition, which will remain open to visitors during the opening hours of the Botanical Garden until 8 September 2024.
Participation in the event is free, upon reservation.
