[4] The garden's initial collection was amassed during the 17th century through plants and seeds brought back by traders from the Dutch East India Company for use as medicines and potential commercial possibilities.

[5] Likewise, two small potted oil palms that were brought back from Mauritius had produced seeds which were propagated throughout all of Southeast Asia, becoming a major source of revenue in the Dutch East Indies and present-day Indonesia.

[3] Many of these plants are still grown at the Hortus Botanicus in its Snippendaal Garden, which is commonly referred to as 'the 17th century pharmacopoeia of Amsterdam’.

[4] The garden's governing board directed the construction of the Palm House and laboratory in order to keep the professor there.

[4] In 1987, the garden almost went bankrupt when the University of Amsterdam suddenly stopped paying its expenses, but a community of individual supporters prevented its closure.