Cryptogams

Mosses, horsetails and ferns have a special place in the history of biology. The secret of their reproduction puzzled the father of modern taxonomy Carl Linnaeus. The king of botany, who classified flora, fauna and even his plates at home, could not decipher this floral mystery of reproduction and named these plants cryptogams. The secret of cryptogams was discovered by an amateur botanist Michal Leszczyk-Suminski in 1848. Three years later, his theory was proved by Wilhelm Hofmeister, a professor of botany and a seller of musical instruments in Germany.

All cryptogams are ancient, they appeared on the planet 410-380 million years ago. These plants weren’t the first ones to inhabit the land but they played an important role in forming the first forests. These days we can see the fossil imprints of ancient cryptogams. The exhibition is based on the collection of mosses, horsetails and ferns from Eurasia, New Zealand, North and South America, Australia, Africa and New Guinea.

Rare botanical editions of the XIX–XX centuries with magnificent and detailed illustrations will be exhibited for the first time. The most unique item is the book-herbarium published in 1827 with samples of mosses from Germany.

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