This botanic garden is a serene haven. There are specimens of many food, construction, medicinal and aromatic, textile and decorative plants (many of course had more than one use).
Fruit trees include apple, olive, pear, fig, almond.
Medical and aromatic plants: basil, marjoram, thyme (antiseptic), garlic (high blood pressure), rue (abortion). Construction: ash tree - whose very flexible wood was used to build bed staves; the willow tree - used to weave baskets; the poplar - cut in foils for baskets.
Bulrushes - used to drip ricotta cheese, and vegetables were tied up with them.
Canes - making musical instruments, traps and pikes and dividing walls for houses and padding mattresses with blooms.
Vegetables included legumes and cereals (chickpeas, lentils, peas, broad beans) which were cooked as soups.
Textile plants were flax, hemp, “ginestra” from which ropes, nets and canvas were made, while the cotton-wastes were used for lamps. Fabrics were dyed with blooms of the “ontano” and the card of the “fullones” was used to tease wool.
“Coronarie”, evergreen plants received a special mention in Plinius work book XXI; they were used to weave celebratory, cult and therapeutic crowns.
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