Our library contains more than 40,000 documents – citable knowledge that is used for research and is prepared for knowledge transfer.
In addition to the library, the succulent collection also houses an archive in which estates and other archival materials related to succulence are managed.
Together with the living collection and the herbarium, our library and the associated archive have also grown in recent decades. In the meantime, more than 40,000 documents (books and magazines, correspondence, communications and estates) can be found here. Some of them are also available as digital copies or only in digital form.
Thematically, the evidence is as diverse as the world of succulents itself: You will find horticultural literature on the cultivation of succulent plants for beginners and advanced users, monographs on individual plant groups, botanical literature on the most diverse aspects of succulence, scientific articles, enthusiast magazines from all corners of the world and much more. In this way, the library not only provides citable knowledge for research and our mediation work, but is also of great benefit to our gardeners in their daily work.
Various people have dealt with succulent plants in their careers, collected, researched and described them. Some of these treasures of knowledge find their way to us as a legacy. With the help of photos and notebooks that find their way into our library and archive , certain journeys can be traced; this information can often also be linked to herbarium specimens or live plants in our stock. Such provenance data completes our knowledge of the plants cultivated and archived here. And the botanical detective work, which is made possible and at the same time facilitated by this fund of evidence and linked information, gives our holdings a special value.
Worth mentioning here are the extensive estates of the plant collectors Friedrich Ritter and Curt Backeberg. The writings have been entrusted to us for careful preservation and are currently being processed. Gradually, where possible, they will be made available digitally.
The library can be used on site by appointment. Borrowing is not possible.
Our archive materials are currently being processed and will be made available piece by piece in digital form.
Registration is possible via the contact form below or by phone. Please let us know briefly what your interest in using the library or archive is.
Sammlungskurator und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter