Since its foundation, the University of Padua Botanical Garden has been a place not only devoted to preservation and cataloguing of vegetable species, but also, above all, to scientific research. In its almost five century of activity, the Botanical Garden has witnessed the evolution of botany, from a science applied to medicine to a pure science, which has gradually become different and structured in the present numerous specialized branches. During this centuries-old evolution, it has always maintained a high standard of scientific and educational activity, unceasingly adapting the living collections to the changed demands related to the progress of botany disciplines.

At the beginning of the third millennium, Padua Botanical Garden carries on with a qualified up-to-date scientific and educational activity, following the Edinburgh Charter approved by the European community of Botanists in 1997. According to this document, the historical botanical gardens, despite their small dimensions and their peculiar architectonical features, that very often act as constraining factors, still can and must play a scientific role, adapting the collections and the research programmes not only to the current scientific demands but also to the existing structures. In accordance with the principles set by the Edinburgh Charter, Padua Botanical Garden hosts today some living collections that answer to the current research and higher education demands, in line with

• its centuries-old tradition- there still exists a section dedicated to medicinal plants, continuously updated with the insert of plants newly introduced in therapy and hosting some medicinal plants of the past too;
• the choices of modern botanical gardens - systematic classifications, collections of spontaneous plants typical of the area;
• new emerging priorities, such as the preservation of biodiversity.

The preservation of biodiversity, in particular, is carried out both with the institution of parks and protected areas (in situ preservation) and with the preservation of the genetic potential (germplasm) of single species, by means of the institution of sperm banks where this material is collected and stored, aiming to a potential new diffusion in the natural environment (ex situ preservation) too.

Already since 1985, Padua Botanical Garden has promoted the ex situ preservation of rare spontaneous and menaced plants of the Northeast Italy. Since 1992 a Germplasm Bank has been also instituted for the low-temperature preservation of the seeds of such species, according to internationally shared techniques. Since 2005 the Garden is a member of RIBeS, the Italian Network of Germplasm Banks for the ex situ preservation of the spontaneous Italian flora.

A satellite garden was recently built which comprises glasshouses and a building hosting research laboratories. Laboratories are dedicated to seeds, to in vitro plant micropropagation and to molecular studies. The latter studies are important for studying biodiversity, evolution, but also for helping in the determination of plant material, which will be useful for the analysis of the Garden’s Herbarium collections.

The plant collections, facilities and botanical expertise are provided for member of the University, departments and for use in didactic purposes. Research projects using the Garden’s facilities have been carried out by staff and students of the University’s Departments of Biology, TESAF, DAFNAE, of Cultural Sciences Studies on plants cover a wide spectrum of activities – developmental biology, systematics, forestry, ecology, zoology, genetics, molecular biology and physiology.

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with botanic gardens worldwide, organizations in conservation, researchers from other universities and other research institutions.

Research in the Garden is organized into the following broad themes: “Plant conservation and sustainability”, “Plant biodiversity evolution and systematics”, and “Support to plant research”.