The Museum’s botanical exhibition introduces visitors to the kingdom of plants. The botanical exhibits begin with an introduction to biology. A large three-dimensional representation of the plant cell is the visitors’ first contact with the basic unit of every living organism. The processes of growth, reproduction, and heredity are projected in accurate reproductions that show the basic functions of plant cells.
The great variety of shapes characteristic of plants is reflected in the groups in which they are classified. Enlarged and natural-size models of fungi, algae, bryophyte (mosses), pteridophyta (ferns), gymnospermae (conifers), angiospermae (flowering plants) inform visitors about the importance of those groups in plant societies.
In another hall there are models, moulds and photographs that show the anatomy and morphology of flowering plants, the structure of the flower, the root, the leaves, according to environmental conditions with emphasis on dry biotopes and wetlands, the function of pollination etc.
In the same hall visitors can see plant fossils from western Macedonia of the Miocene and Pleistocene eras (11-12 million years ago). Leaves and branches from a richly vegetated lake were entrapped in its sediments and fossilized. Various types of oak are displayed, among which the Quercus pontica which no longer exists and whose leaves were 20cm long, types of maple trees, beeches, chestnut trees etc. Among the most interesting displays are the branches, leaves and fruit of the Glyptostrobus europeus , a tree related to the sequoia that no longer exists, as well as cinnamon leaves (Cinnommophyllum polymorphum) that are witnesses to the fact that the climate in those eras was warmer and more humid than it is today. Visitors realize that our world is not stable but constantly changing like any living organism. Our planet has its history which is reflected in fossils.
Head of Department: Dr. Dionysios Mermygkas
Dionysios Mermygkas is an Environmentalist, graduate of the University of the Aegean and Doctor of Biological Sciences from University of Athens. He is in charge of the Botanical Department of the Goulandris Museum, of which he has been a member since 2002. His interests and his scientific work are focused on Systematic Botany and Phytosociology. He has worked in many projects related to the study and protection of the Greek flora, the monitoring of the Natura network habitats, the Greek wetlands, specific environmental studies etc. In the framework of his work at the Museum, he curates the Herbarium of the Museum, manages its digital database and supports the Museum’s educational, exhibition and research work.
You can see the Publications of Dionysios Mermygkas here:
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