SUCCULENT PLANTS NURSERY
In his Travel Journals is a diary Federico wrote during his exploration journey in America around the mid XIX century, where he noticed many cactuses in the Mexican territory. Together with the great many specimens of various type (birds, insects, minerals) that he shipped overseas to increase the museum collections, we understand from the lists attached to the dispatches , that some “nopal” cutting were shipped. Nopal is a term that refers to the species belonging to Opuntia, the species of the ordinary Prickly Pear. An Archive photograph taken at the beginning of the XX century shows the flowerbeds in front of the museum where in summer several types of Cereus, Opuntia and Ferocactus were buried in vases. When in 2005 an air-conditioned nursery was installed inside the garden, the core group, which included some specimens of Opuntia, Cereus, Aloe and a Mammillaria elongata, was increased with new acquisitions which have gradually started a much richer collection. Particularly important was the donation of many specimens of Cactuses by the Villa Hanbury in Ventimiglia. Currently, thanks to the help and the passion of the curator Ms Jenny Rinaudi, the nursery of the Succulent Plants of the Craveri Museum includes about a hundred types with over 600 species and a total of about one thousand specimens.
