Antonio Bertoloni‘s botanic interests were referred not only to the Italian sphere but also to the rest of the world. He discovered a large number of new species and many were named after him.
Hortus Siccus Exoticus contains more than 11000 specimens (139 families, 1544 genera) especially from Europe but also from Guatemala, Antilles, Siberia, India, Iraq sent to Bertoloni by main botanists of his time like De Candolle, Hooker, Boissier, Brown.
These specimens have been used by Bertoloni in writing Flora Italica, and most of the species, like the 170 Type specimens, have been described in 24 Miscellanee Botaniche or in other Bertoloni’s works such as Florula Guatimalensis.
The herbarium preparation, probably started in 1796, is due to Bertoloni himself and to his son, Giuseppe.
