U-Plant Discover platform presented: first in Italy it gives the possibility to consult online all the plants present

Amanda Fincatti

Pisa. With pioneering work in Italy, the Botanical Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa presents and makes available to all U-Plant Discover, an online platform that offers the possibility to virtually consult all the plants in cultivation present in the structure. Through the launch of a winning collaboration between the Botanical Garden and the Information System of the Pisa University, the internal database, operational since last year, was first created and the debut of the public platform, accessible to interested parties, from Saturday.

«We are the first in Italy to make available the documentation associated with the plants. Obviously, behind every university botanical garden it is essential that there is coherent documentation, normally accessible only to the assigned staff. Having had to reorganize our internal database, we had the spontaneous idea of ​​making it accessible to a general public “, observes Lorenzo Peruzzi, director of the Garden and Botanical Museum, who spoke during the presentation of the novelty in the Savi room in via Luca Ghini.

“With a further year of work – adds the director – we are able to obtain this tool which is effective, it is obtained as one at an international level”.

In fact, according to information disclosed by the Botanical Garden of Pisa, an instrument with these characteristics is present only in about sixteen botanical gardens all over the world. Unique in Italy. With the help of the platform, they explain, it is possible to perform thematic searches, from the simplest to the most advanced. Once connected to the platform, users will be able to view each plant specimen. Each of them is accompanied by a photograph and a dedicated card that contains the main information on the origin of the plant and its exact position in the Botanical Garden of Pisa.

As to illustrate the staff involved in the project, visitors can dare their contribution to the photo gallery of the platform by virtually sending the photos taken in the garden.

Come explain Marco D’Antraccoli, curator of the Botanical Garden, “the availability to the public of all the information associated with the specimens of the garden is a significant step forward towards an increasingly in-depth and modern use of the collections, with about 2,000 species from different countries”.

Undoubtedly, the combination of skills between the staff of the structure and the programmers of the University Information System has allowed the creation of a versatile product, capable of meeting both the needs of internal staff and those of the general public.

Despite the difficulties related to the pandemic, «the maximum commitment of all collaborators has positively contributed to the project. It is in fact thanks to the wonderful collaboration that was born that it was possible to create this product », he adds Pietro Picconi, programmer of the University Information System.

Proud of this rare achievement, the professor and director of the Orto Lorenzo Peruzzi is convinced of the great added value it represents for visitors. “From now on, anyone will be able to know which specimens and their exact location in the Botanical Garden, how, when and where they want,” he concludes.

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