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When botanist Richard Deakin examined Rome’s Colosseum in the 1850s, he found 420 species of plant growing in the ruins: cypresses & ilex, pea plants & over 50 types of grass.
But some flowers growing there mystified him. They were so rare they were found nowhere else in Europe.
But some flowers growing there mystified him. They were so rare they were found nowhere else in Europe.
The mystery perplexed Deakin, until eventually he came up with a seemingly unlikely solution.
Deakin proposed that the plants had been brought as seeds on the fur of animals like lions & giraffes, brought from Africa to perform & fight in the arena.
Deakin proposed that the plants had been brought as seeds on the fur of animals like lions & giraffes, brought from Africa to perform & fight in the arena.
This incredible piece of conjecture is hard to prove, but it shows how flora growing among ruins can form a key part of their story.
Deakin opens his volume by calling the plants growing in the arena ‘a link in the memory’ that ‘flourish in triumph upon the ruins’.
Deakin opens his volume by calling the plants growing in the arena ‘a link in the memory’ that ‘flourish in triumph upon the ruins’.
