Italian professor of medicine who championed the concept of a herbarium (Hortus Siccus) and its benefits for the study of plant classification. Luco Ghini did not publish any works of merit but he made great contributions to the history of botany in his teaching in Bologna and Pisa.

Born in Croara d'Imola he studied medicine in Bologna where, from 1527, he lectured in the medicinal uses of plants. Later named professor (1539) he spent several years (1544-1554) teaching in Pisa, although he maintained his house and garden in Bologna and even took students there for practical instruction. Ghini was responsible for teaching a great deal of influential botanists of the 16th century, including Andreas Cesalpino. As the first recorded owner of a herbarium, Ghini recognised the utility of preserving and exchanging specimens as a reference for botanical scholars. He was also the first to describe preservation techniques such as drying, pressing and mounting specimens. Unfortunately, the fate of his specimens is not known, but the two oldest herbaria still in existence belong to his students, G.C. de Roccacontrada and M. Merini.

Also recognising the importance of keeping a variety of live specimens, for study and for teaching, he developed one of the first botanic gardens while in Pisa. Again his students learnt how valuable such gardens were and they flourished throughout Europe over the following years. What is also clear from the literature is that Ghini was a selfless and enthusiastic character, keen to help his peers and students in their ventures. One such example is the support he gave to P.G. Mattioli in his quest to identify the plants of Dioscorides. Ghini obtained specimens from merchants in Greece, Sicily, Spain, Egypt and Syria in the hope that they would help. Ghini did produce one work, his Placiti, where he compared the plants of Pliny and Dioscorides to ones he knew from his travels in Italy. In 1528 he married Gentile Sarti and he had at least one child, a son.

Sources:
D. Isely, 1994, One hundred and one botanists: 20
A.G. Keller, 1972, "Ghini, Luca", Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 5: 383-384.