The Orto Botanico di Villa Beuca (34,000 m²) is a botanical garden situated in Beuca, on a terrace nearly 100 meters above the sea located around the Villa Beuca not far from the slopes of the Regional Natural Park of Beigua, in Cogoleto, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italy. The garden is currently open to the public by appointment on Saturday: for groups and schools, guided tours may be organized; an admission fee is charged.
The garden is divided into
a didactic sector (Cornice Didattica) dedicated mainly to exotic species; the Ligurian habitat sector (11,000 m²) which is dedicated to the regional flora and vegetation including also the traditional agricultural landscape with its variety of vines and olives; it presents a set of Ligurian environments among which marine cliff, Mediterranean scrub, thermophilic woodlands, mesophilic woodlands, cultivated areas and wetlands a third area is distributed on a broad slope of natural vegetation (the Cornice spontanea), mainly shrubs, left unchanged.
Exhibits
The Orto Botanico di Villa Beuca hosts a variety of plants from Liguria and around the world, including:
Castanea sativa
Quercus ilex
Quercus pubescens
Ruscus aculeatus
Smilax aspera
Viburnum tinus as well as Calluna vulgaris
Convolvulus sabatius
Cytisus scoparius
Euphorbia spinosa subsp. ligustica
Helichrysum italicum
Hypericum perforatum
Juniperus communis
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
Saponaria ocymoides
Satureja montana
Thymus pulegioides
Ziziphus jujuba and Artemisia absinthium
Borago officinalis
Chelidonium majus
Foeniculum vulgare
Lavandula angustifolia
Melissa officinalis
Origanum vulgare
Rosmarinus officinalis
See also
List of botanical gardens in Italy
References
Orto Botanico di Villa Beuca - Official website (Italian, with summary in English) Mariotti Mauro, Il fiore della diversità. L'orto botanico di villa Beuca a Cogoleto, ERGA, 2001. . Parco Naturale Regionale del Beigua Il Giornale article, November 1, 2007 (Italian) Cogoleto article (Italian) Residence Villa Beuca