The Comes Museum is annexed to the formerly Department of Arboriculture, Botany and Plant Pathology and is part of the enormous scientific heritage gathered in over one hundred and thirty years of activity of the first High School of Agronomy and then of the Faculty of Agriculture. Among these the historical and educational collections of the Comes Museum are of considerable scientific and historical interest, as demonstrated by the variety of the preserved samples and the originality of the collections shown below.

• Collection of charred plant finds from the excavations of Oplonti, made up of about 140 samples that are perfectly recognizable and represent an interesting find on the ancient flora of the Vesuvian area.

• Xilotomoteca Italica del Fiori, acquired in the 60s is made up of 210 samples of thin sections of wood belonging to different tree and shrub species,

• Collection of dried samples of Lichens, of German origin, was purchased by the Royal Higher School of Agriculture and consists of 50 volumes, each containing about 10 samples each.

• Collection of vegetable samples of prevailing nutritional and pharmaceutical interest, made up of about 200 representative samples of leaves, fruits and other vegetable parts used by man, preserved dry, in glass; interesting cataloging with common names now in disuse.

• Herbarium, collections of dried vegetable specimens and mounted on cardboard: the historical Comes collection, made up of about 4000 samples, is the only Italian memory of herbarium collections from the 1700s. In particular the floras of two eighteenth century illustrious botanists such as Petagna and Cirillo are preserved; the Miscellanea, formed by about 3000 samples and based on the most recent floristic studies and structured by geographical areas.

• Collection of panels with a botanical subject, formed by about 75 panels of German origin, acquired by the Royal Higher School of Agriculture; they are part of both color tables describing the morphology of some plant species, and more properly didactic panels on subjects such as the structure of plant tissues and the biochemical-physiological patterns.

• Historical library, consisting of a considerable number of volumes and magazines published between the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The miscellaneous Comes is of great interest.

Location: First floor of the Royal Palace

Tel. 081 7754850 - Fax 081 7760104

Supervisor: Prof. Stefano Mazzoleni