Herbarium Centrale Italicum (Phanerogamic Section): The Genesis and Structure of a Herbarium. 1999. illus. 446 p. Hardcover. - In English.

The Herbarium Universitatis Florentinae of the Botanical Section of the Museum of Natural History (University of Florence) is the home of one of the largest herbaria in the world; in total, the Herbarium contains approximately 5 million specimens. Some of the collections in the Herbarium are current, ongoing projects; others are purely historical. Among the contemporary herbaria is the Herbarium Centrale Italicum, which was founded in 1842 and contains more than 4 million specimens from all over the world but with an emphasis on the Mediterranean area. This herbarium as well as the P. B. Webb Herbarium, contain thousands of specimens from Africa, particularly from Libya, Algeria, Italian East Africa, and Egypt. The historical collections include very ancient herbaria such as the Cesalpino (16th century) and the Micheli-Targioni (17th - 18th centuries). Other of the historical collections are more recent but very important for their typus material (e.g., the P. B. Webb Herbarium, with approximately 230 000 specimens and the O. Beccari Herbarium, with more than 16 000 specimens).