Oxford Florilegium Exhibition marks 400th anniversary of the UK's oldest botanic garden

This is about an upcoming exhibition of the Oxford Florilegium which opens next month.

2021 is the 400th anniversary of Oxford Botanic Garden, the oldest botanic garden in the UK, founded on July 25th 1621. Established as the Oxford Physic Garden for growing medicinal plants used to teach medical students, the Garden was the birthplace of botanical sciences at Oxford. It became known as the Oxford Botanic Garden in the 1830s to reflect its role in experimental botany.

​As part of the Oxford Botanic Garden’s 400 year anniversary celebrations, the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and the Department of Plant Sciences are holding an Oxford Florilegium Exhibition. 

• Exhibition features:
  • the work of 14 artists,
  • a diverse range of art from throughout the Oxford Florilegium Collection 
• Venue: Barn Gallery, Kendrew Quad, Saint John’s College, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3JP (no. 22 on this pdf map of St John's College)
• Dates: Monday 22 November to Saturday 4th December 2021
• Hours: 12pm - 6pm.

​To date, almost 80 illustrations by members of the Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum Florilegium Group have been accepted into the Herbarium archive. Following the judging for this year's exhibition more will be added to the growing collection.

Note 1: The image chosen for image above is Pinus nigra, black pine © Rosemary Wise. The tree is one of the oldest in the Oxford Botanic Garden and was planted in the Garden in the 1830s and much loved by JRR Tolkien. The original tree, often referred to as ‘Tolkien’s Pine’, shed two huge branches in 2014 and had to be felled. To mark the 400th anniversary, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales planted a special tree, propagated from a seed of the black pine (Pinus nigra) on his visit to mark the anniversary on 7th June 2021.

Exhibition Judges

The work will be judged for its botanical accuracy, execution and composition by

• Professor Simon Hiscock - Director, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum (Christ Church)
• Professor Stephen Harris, Druce Curator (Herbaria), Associate Professor in Plant Science (Christ Church)
• Dr Chris Thorogood - Deputy Director & Head of Science, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum

About the Florilegium 
​

The Florilegium has been working for a decade to produce high-quality botanical illustrations that document the living collections of the Botanic Garden and Arboretum.

Their illustrations focus on themes including:

• Medicinal plants,
• Plants selected from the Garden’s 1648 border and Merton Border
• Plants with a particular association with Oxford.
• Trees in the Garden
• ​Mediterranean plants from the newly planted Rock Garden

Each piece typically features flowers, fruits and floral dissections.

The Rock Garden is now reconfigured with rocks, paths and plants in place, along with new interpretation boards. Entitled ‘A Greek Odyssey: Sibthorp’s voyages in the footsteps of Dioscorides’, these explain the importance
of the Flora Graeca, published in the 1800s based on Oxford botanist John Sibthorp’s surveys across Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, accompanied by his illustrator Ferdinand Bauer. 
Botanic Garden & Arboretum Friends' newsletter | No. 107

NOTE: The Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum Florilegium Group do not have a website.

About Oxford Botanic Garden
​

Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in the UK. It was founded on the 25th July, 1621 - some 50 years before the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (1670) and the Chelsea Physic Garden (1673).

It's celebrating its 400th anniversary tear in 2021 with a range of events during the year to make. These included a visit in early June from its Patron HRH Prince off Wales

Founding of the Garden

• The original intention was to create a 'Physic Garden' for teaching medical students about medicinal plant
• The Garden’s founder, the first Earl of Danby, Henry Danvers KG  leased the five acre site from Magdalen College
• At 2pm on July 25th 1621, the founding stone was laid by the University of Oxford’s Vice Chancellor.

Development of the Garden in the 17th Century

1621-1641

• the garden is situated within the flood plain of the River Cherwell
• the first task - during the first 20 years of its life - was to raise the level of the land to avoid flooding. “Four thousand cart loads of mucke and dunge” were transported to the Garden and a stone wall with four gateways was built around it to enclose it.

1640s

• 1642: Jacob Bobart the Elder was appointed to be the Garden’s first Keeper
• 1640s: The garden was planted under the guidance of its Keeper
• 1648: Bobart created a catalogue of all the plants which he grew, now preserved as a treasured ancient manuscript at the Garden.

1830

• The Physic Garden was renamed the Botanic Garden in the 1830s
• The Sherardian Professor Charles Daubeny wanted it to reflect its growing focus on experimental botany and taxonomy.

20th Century

• 1946: expansion of the garden was achieved through the lease of a further three acres from Christ Church at the southern end adjacent to Christ Church Meadow.
• 1963: Further expansion involved the management of eight acres of pinetum at the University’s Nuneham Estate at Nuneham Courtenay. This subsequently expanded to become the 130 acre Harcourt Arboretum.

The Botanic Garden' current priorities are research, teaching, conservation and public engagement.