The Giardino Botanico di Collepardo, also known as the Giardino Botanico "Flora Ernica", is a nature preserve and botanical garden located in Collepardo, Province of Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. It is open several months per year.
A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation, preservation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It may contain specialist plant collections such as cacti and other succulent plants, herb gardens, plants from particular parts of the world, and so on; there may be greenhouses, shadehouses, again with special collections such as tropical plants, alpine plants, or other exotic plants. Visitor services at a botanical garden might include tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, and other entertainment.
Collepardo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of Rome and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of Frosinone.
The Province of Frosinone is a province in the Lazio region of Italy, with 91 comuni. Its capital is the city of Frosinone. It has an area of 3,247 square kilometres (1,254 sq mi) and a total population of 493,605 (2016).
The garden was established in 1985 by the World Wide Fund for Nature; it opened to the public in 1991. It currently contains about 400 species indigenous to the Monti Ernici, a chain of central Apennine Mountains. This represents about 50% of the Monti Ernici flora, including some protected species. The garden contains a nature trail through forests, meadows, marshes and small clearings. Some plants are marked with a card providing botanical information.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of the wilderness preservation, and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States.
In biology, a species ( ) is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. While these definitions may seem adequate, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, and in a ring species. Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually, the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies.
The Monti Ernici are a mountain range in central Italy, part of the sub-Apennines of Lazio. They are bounded by the valley of the river Aniene to the north-east, that of the Liri to the east, and, from south to west, by the valleys of the Cosa and Sacco. They are the natural border between the Ciociaria and the Abruzzo.
