Plants, names and placesofeighteenth century

Asoneoftheworksfromthesecondhalfofthe XVIIIcentury whichbearwitness toa lively cultural and civilised period whenthemostsensitive andcapable Sardinian intellectuals wereopening theirmindstothenewEuropean ideas, Flora Sardoa byMichele Antonio Plazza hasstill nothad thehonourofbeingpublished andeventodayistobefound within twonoteasily consulted manuscripts. And yetitisa praiseworthy scientific text, welllinkedtothewidespread botanical movementofthattime. Plazza's manuscript treatise, published entirely inLatin, canbe seentobe extremely interesting fromseveral aspects. Forthemomentconsidering it fromahistorical point ofview, thetreatise represents infacta valid example ofregional flora inspired bythemostadvanced andfertile currents ofcontinental research andstructured onthe basisof the revolutionary methodof classification and denomination ofthesystema naturae introduced byCarolus Linnaeus. Furthermore Plazza's manuscript papers arerich with precious information froma linguistic, lexicographical and topographical point ofview. Several ofthemostsalient characteristics ofthetreatise are illustrated inthepaper, prior totheforthcoming publication ofa critical-historical edition. IndexTerms-Sardinia, History ofBotany, Classification, Local plants names, Toponyms.