229� April–June 2003 13(2)

Herbals: The Connection BetweenHorticulture and MedicineJules Janick

SUMMARY. The prehistoric discovery that certain plants cause harm and others have curativepowers is the origin of the healing professions and its practitioners (priest, physician, andapothecary), as well as professions devoted to plants (botany and horticulture). The descrip-tion of plants and their properties and virtues (termed herbals in the 16th century) became aninvaluable resource for the physician and apothecary. The earliest medicobotanical treatisesdate to antiquity. A Sumerian tablet from about 2100 BCE (before current era) contains adozen prescriptions and proscribes plant sources. In China, the Pen T’Sao Ching, assumed tobe authored by the legendary Emperor Shen Nung in 2700 BCE, but probably written in thefirst century, contains about 100 herbal remedies. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical treatise fromancient Egypt dates to 1550 BCE but contains material from 5–20 centuries earlier. In Greece,the great botanical treatise Enquiry into Plants of Theophrastus, devotes book IX to themedicinal value of herbs. The herbal De Materia Medica by Pedanios Dioscorides of Anazarba,a Roman army physician, written in the year 65, the most famous ever written, was slavishlyreferred to, copied, and commented on for 1500 years. The great epoch of printed herbalsappeared in the 16th century of which the most notable are Das Buch zu Distillieren (1500) byHieronymus Brunschwig; Herbarum Vivae Eicones (1530, 1532, 1536) by Otto Brunfel;Kreüter Buch (1542) by Hieronymus Bock; De Historias Stirpium (1542) of Leonhart Fuchs;New Herball (1551, 1562, 1568) by William Turner; Commentarii “on Dioscorides” (1544)by Pier Andrea Mattioli; Crôÿdeboeck (1554) by Rembert Dodoens; and the Herball (1597) byJohn Gerard. Botany and medicine were essentially in step until the 17th century when botharts turned scientific and, at this juncture, botanical works would essentially ignore medicinaluses while medical works were devoid of plant lore. Yet, the medicinal use of herbs continuesas an alternate form of medicine and remains popular in various forms to the present daydespite the questionable efficacy of many popular herbs and the reliance of many herbalrecommendations on superstition and astrology. The fact that most drugs were originallyplant-based has encouraged a new look at the medicinal properties of plants.

Early humans empirically determined the potential uses of the plantsthat surrounded them. Through trial and error they found plantsthat were agreeable or distasteful, edible or poisonous, that could

cure or kill, could induce sleep, visions, or euphoria, and relieve symptomsof discomfort from constipation to anxiety. Plants with strong tastes andaromas (herbs and spices) were seized upon to alleviate illness and toenhance food. The prehistoric discovery that certain plants are edible orhave curative powers and others are inedible or cause harm is the origin ofthe healing professions and its practitioners—priest, physician, and apoth-ecary—and the plant sciences—botany and horticulture.

The early medical arts were associated with the search for andknowledge about healing substances as well as magic and religion. Tounderstand the unknowable, humans created a panoply of gods, spir-its, and forces, many of which were associated with or in the form ofanimals and plants which were and continue to be worshipped.

Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1165.

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:30 PM229

230 � April–June 2003 13(2)

The cult of fertility, an almost uni-versal belief of primitive humans, wassymbolized by trees or animals and fromthis derives the Tree of Life, the SacredTree, the Cult of the Bull, and animalsacrifice. Knowledge of the healingpower of plants became a special callingof the priest and magician, and thisknowledge became a source of power.For thousands of years, the role of thepriest and the physician were combinedand exist today in the form of witchdoctor, shaman, exorcist, and medicineman. The word pharmacy originatedfrom an Egyptian term pharmaki andthe Greek pharmakon and is related toanother Egyptian word pharagia, whichmeans the art of making magic.

In time, the healing profession di-verged into separate professions, physi-cian and priest, although there are manywho wish to repair this dichotomythrough wildly divergent means, fromMary Baker Eddy, founder of ChristianScience, to Sigmund Freud, founder ofpsychoanalysis, and, most recently, vari-ous practitioners of alternate healingtechniques known under the sobriquetof holistic medicine. The diversion ofthe medical profession from supersti-tion and religion through a more sys-tematic accumulation of knowledge, atfirst empirical and later experimental,has now made medicine truly a scientificdiscipline (Singer, 1958). The basis ofthe rational study of the medical arts wasthe insight that disease and sickness didnot have a supernatural cause but anatural one. This concept is still not anobvious one and in many ways it iscounter-intuitive; many still believe thatsickness is due more to retribution thanto natural causes. The priest, althoughclinging to the concept that religioncontrols the power of healing, has re-treated from being a dispenser of cures,but many still maintain that the out-come of disease may still rely on thewhim of the mind or on higher powers.Thus, miraculous cures, the power ofrelics, incantations, prayer, anointings,once the stock of the shaman, remainyet as a force in our religious beliefs,especially when the art of the physicianproves feckless and impotent.

Through the course of medicine,from antiquity to the present, one of thechief sources of cures has been materialsderived from plants. It is calculated thatat the present time at least 70% of medi-cines are or were plant derived. Al-though plants are morphologicallysimple compared to animals, this sim-

plicity of form has been compensated bya complex biochemistry, much of it torepel their own pathogens and preda-tors. It is this ability of plants that isexploited by humans as medicines or ashealth functional phytochemicals. Thus,horticulture and the healing arts havelong had a vital connection. This knowl-edge has been transmitted to us in booksand treatises known as herbals, contain-ing the names and description of plantswith their properties and medical vir-tues (Singer, 1923, 1927). They have along tradition in many cultures, ancientand modern. They represent the vitallink between botany and medicine, hor-ticulture and health. The history of herb-als presented here draws heavily fromfour sources: Anderson (1977), Arber(1938), Blunt and Raphael (1979), andSinger (1958).

AntiquityANCIENT CULTURES OF THE NEAR EAST,

FAR EAST, AND AMERICAS. Civilizationoccurred independently in various partsof the world including the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, the Nile Valley, theIndus Valley, the Far East, and CentralAmerica. All developed an agriculturebased on the cultivation of plants. Theearliest civilization arose in Sumeria, anancient culture of the Fertile Crescent(4500 BCE), which coalesced into thesucceeding cultures of Akkadia,Babylonia, Assyria, and Judea. TheSumerians were non-Semitic people whosettled in southern Mesopotamia, anddeveloped the cites of Nippur, Lagash,Larsa, and Ur. They were the first todevelop a system of writing using wedge-shaped or cuneiform impressions onclay tablets which date to before 3000BCE, the beginnings of written history.The Sumerians introduced the first sys-tematic irrigated agriculture and refer toplant sources for healing prescriptions.The earliest known pharmaceutical com-pendium is a cuneiform tablet discov-ered at Nipur and dated at about 2100BCE consisting of a set of formulas anddirections for compounding (Fig. 1).Semitic people, Akkadians, settled tothe north of Sumer. The legendarySargon I, founder of the Akkadian-Sumerian Empire about 2500 BCE, dis-covered like Moses in a reed basket,became a gardener, and was rewardedwith a kingship by the god Ishtar. Sumerand Akkad become the country ofBabylonia. In the north, on both sidesof the Tigris, the warlike Assyrians es-tablished themselves about 3000 BCE

and developed the cites of Ashur andNinevah. Early Babylonian-Assyrianmedicine was largely dominated by thebelief of signs and omens involving thepriest as both diviner and exorcist yetincluding medical treatment. Examina-tion of clay tablets in the library of KingAssurbanipal of Assyria (668–626 BCE)identified 120 mineral drugs and 250vegetable drugs including asafoetida,calamus, cannabis, castor, crocus, gal-banum, glycyrrhiza, hellebore,mandragon, mentha, myrrh, opium,pine turpentine, styrax, and thymus.The medical information from Judeahas come to us intact through the He-brew and Christian bibles which are richsources of information on herbs andspices.

Medicinal uses of plants are foundin the ancient civilizations of the IndusValley, Far East, and Central America(Rosengarten 1973). In Chinese leg-end, the Emperor Shen Nung, the Di-vine Cultivator and founder of Chinesemedicine, authored the Pen T’sao Ching(The Classic Herbal) in 2700 BCE. Thisancient herbal mentions more than 100medicinal plants, including cassia, butwas probably compiled in the first cen-

Fig. 1. A Sumerian cuneiform tabletdiscovered at Nipur and pressed intoclay circa 2100 BCE is the earliestknown medical text. The contentsmay be older, perhaps by as much asa millennium. One translation directsthe practitioner to “pulverize thebark of pear (?) tree and the moonplant; infuse it with kushumma wine,let tree oil and hot cedar oil bespread over it” (Cowen and Helfand,1988; Kramer, 1954).

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:30 PM230

231� April–June 2003 13(2)

tury although it may contain informa-tion from centuries earlier. Cassia ismentioned by Confucius (551–479 BCE)and in the Ch’u Ssu (Elegies of Ch’u) inthe 4th century BCE. The most compre-hensive Chinese herbal, Pen Ts’ao KangMu compiled by Li Shih Cen, was firstpublished in 1596.

Evidence of herbal use in Indiapredates the 1st millennium BCE withlistings of plants for therapeutic valuedating to 500 BCE. Medical writings ofCharaka (1st century BCE) and Susruta II(2nd century) refer to medicinal herbsand spices. An Aztec herbal, compiledin 1522 by de la Cruz-Badiano, includeshallucinogenic plants such as peyote.

ANCIENT EGYPT AND THE EBERS PA-PYRUS. Egypt has a continuous 6000-year record with a unique and produc-tive agriculture at its base (Janick, 2002).From 4000–3000 BCE people in theNile Valley established highly advancedagricultural technology, formed a gov-ernment, and as early as 3000 BCE con-structed the first pyramids. There is adirect connection between medicine andplant lore in Ancient Egypt. A medicaltreatise looted from an XVIII dynastytomb, and acquired by a German Pro-fessor, George Ebers in 1862 for thethen enormous sum of $8000, is per-haps the earliest known complete bookof any kind. The Ebers Papyrus, datingto about 1550 BCE, is a collection of 811prescriptions, interspersed with diagno-sis, symptoms, physiological descrip-tions of the action of the heart, andconcluding with the surgical treatmentof wounds and sores (Bryan, 1936;Sonnedecker, 1976). The manuscript,an undamaged scroll over 30 cm wide ×20 m long, consists of over 3000 lines of

text written in a cursive script calledHieratic (Fig. 2). The text, interspersedwith spells and incantations, is a compi-lation and contains remnants of earliermaterial; one passage presumes to datefrom the first dynasty, about 3400 BCE.

Some of the recipes seem quitefantastic and are composed of a mixtureof various substances including botani-cals, animal and insect parts, and miner-als. Were they efficacious? It seems un-likely that most of them were, but inseveral of them, it is quite clear that atherapeutic effect could be due to atleast one of the ingredients. For ex-ample, there are a number of remediesto cure constipation involving castor oilwhile poppy was prescribed to inducesleep. Autumn crocus, the source ofcolchicine, is also prescribed in a di-uretic medicine, but it is unclear if its useto relieve gout was known. Other plantmaterials used include acanthus, acacia,aloe, Arabian wood, balsam, barley, cara-way, cedar, coriander, crocus, cucum-ber, cyperus, date, elderberry, favabean,fennel, fig, flax, garlic, grape, juniper,lettuce, linseed, mint, mulberry, nastur-tium, onion, palm, papyrus, pepper-mint, pomegranate, poppy, saffron,sycomore fig, watermelon, wheat, wil-low, wormwood, and Zizyphus-lotus,Many of the recipes were complex andcarefully proportioned. They were ad-ministered as gargles, snuffs, inhalations,fumigations, suppositories, enemas,poultices, decoctions, infusions, pills,troches, lotions, ointments, and plant-ers.

GREECE AND ROME. Greek civiliza-tion, one of the foundations of WesternCivilization, is the source of philosophy,

literally friend of wisdom. Greek phi-losophy involved a search for rationalexplanations of events in the naturalworld, including the healing arts. As inearlier civilizations, the healing arts inGreece trace to religious beliefs. In the7th century BCE, Asklepios aided by histwo daughters, Hygeia and Panacea,superceded Apollo as the greatest ofhealing gods, and temples in his namewere built to heal the sick. Legend has itthat the centaur Chiron taught Asklepiospharmaceutical knowledge about drugplants.

Hippocrates (460–370 BCE), thedeveloper of a Greek school of healing,was the first to expound the theory thatdiseases had natural rather than super-natural causes. Based on the color andpallor of ill people, disease was consid-ered to be an imbalance of the fourhumors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile,and black bile, a concept that was toaffect medicine for 2000 years. Healingemphasis was placed on purges in anattempt to purify the body from theillness producing excess of humors. Theuse of drugs was not ignored and be-tween 200 and 400 herbs were known.Associated with the Hippocratic School,but predating it, was a group of expertsof medicinal plants, rhizotomi (root dig-gers) who collected indigenous veg-etable roots and sold them as pharma-ceuticals (Fig. 3). The earliest knownGreek herbal, written in the 3rd centuryBCE by Diocles of Carystus, is no longerextant but a few fragments from anillustrated herbal of Krateuas survivefrom the 1st century BCE.

THEOPHRASTUS’ Historia de Plantesand De Causis Plantarum. Two botani-cal treatises of Theophrastus of Eresos,372–287 BCE (Fig. 4), have survived intranslations and represent the greatestsource of botanical and horticulturalinformation from antiquity.

Fig. 2. The Ebers Papyrus in Hieraticscript, 1530 BCE. Source: Bryan(1936).

Fig. 4. Theophrastus of Eresos. Left:Portrait Roman bust (Janick, 1989).Right: Image from Gerarde’s Herball,2nd ed. (1633).

Fig. 3. Rhizotomists gathering herbs(Apuleius Platonicus herbal circa1200). Source: Blunt and Raphael(1979).

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM231

232 � April–June 2003 13(2)

Theophrastus of Eresos (372–287 BCE)was a student and successor of Aristotleas head of the Lyceum, a combinationschool, museum, and research centerunder the patrimony of Alexander.Aristotle’s botanical works are lost butthe two treatises, Historia de Plantes(Enquiry into Plants) and De CausisPlantarum (Of Plants, an Explanation)represent the culmination of a millen-nium of experience, observation, andscience from Egypt and Mesopotamia.Although they contain pharmacologi-cal information, they are not herbals inthe traditional sense but appear to bethe equivalent of lectures containingempirical observations about the plantsciences, what we now consider plantmorphology, classification, seed andvegetative propagation, geographicbotany, forestry, horticulture, insectpests, and plant flavors and aromas.Book IX of the Enquiry discusses herbsas medicines, the kinds and parts ofplants used, collection methods, andeffects on humans and animals. It in-cludes examples of valid techniques

learned from empirical methods andobservation, reports of others, as well assuperstitious herbal practices. AlthoughTheophrastus’ work was lost to theWest until the Renaissance, the manu-script fortunately survived in Syria andwas later translated into Arabic, fromwhich it was translated into Latin. AnEnglish translation of Theophrastus’ bo-tanical works is available in the LoebClassical Library series, the last volumepublished in 1990.

DIOSCORIDES’ De Materia Medica.Precious little is known about PedaniiusDioscorides (Fig. 5), the Latinized nameof Pedianos Dioskurides (20–70 BCE).He was born in Anazarba, a city inNorthern Cilicia, in southeast Asia Mi-nor (lesser Armenia), near Tarsus, inwhat is now Southeastern Turkey. Heserved in the Roman army, perhaps as aphysician and traveled widely. His en-dearing fame rests on his only knownwork, a compilation concerning about500 plants, written in Greek in the year65, now known under its Latin title DeMateria Medica. It contains good de-

scriptions of plants giving their originsand medical virtues. The work was trans-lated into Syriac and then translated intoArabic and Persian and became an im-portant text in the Moslem world. Inthe West it was translated into Latin andin the Renaissance was translated withcommentaries into Italian, German,French, Spanish, and Bohemian. Be-tween 1652 and 1655, the English bota-nist John Goodyer translated it intoEnglish, but this version remained un-published until the 20th century(Gunther, 1934).

Although the original manuscriptappears not to have been illustrated, amagnificent copy (Codex Vindobonensis)with over 400 colored illustrations (Fig.6) was made in 512 for Juliana Anicia,daughter of Flavius Anicius Olybrius,briefly Emperor of the West before hisdeath in 472 and this manuscript maybe the source of other copies. Thismanuscript passed through several handswhere it was amended with plant namesin Turkish, Arabic, and Hebrew, thelatter no doubt penned by its last owner,the Jewish physician to Suleiman theMagnificant. In 1562 the ambassadorto Turkey from the Holy Roman Em-peror, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq(1522–1592), famous for the introduc-tion of the horse chestnut, lilac, andtulip from the near East to WesternEurope, noted the existence of the manu-script, but could not negotiate a price. Itwas eventually purchased, probably bythe Emperor of the Holy Roman Em-pire, Maximilian II, and placed in theImperial Library in Vienna and it is nowthe most valued possession of theÖsterreichische Nationalbibliothek. A fac-simile edition was published in five vol-umes in 1965–1970.

Of the 500 plants in the text, about130 were noted in Greek fragments(Hippocratic Collection) several centu-ries earlier. According to Singer (1927),44 of the drugs mentioned byDioscorides survived in the officialpharmacopoeias of Europe up to the20th century. Despite the fact that thereis precious little in the book that couldbe construed as efficacious, Disocorideswork was to become the most influen-tial herbal written, and remained thefinal authority on pharmacy for over1,500 years.

De Materia Medica is justly con-sidered the foundation for all herballiterature. Why was De Materia Medica,in contrast to the botanical works ofTheophrastus, so influential? First, as

Fig. 5. Pedaniius Dioscorides (circa 20–70 CE). (A) Dioscorides receivingmandrake from the nymph Epinoia (Discovery) for Krateuas to paint. FromCodex Vindobonensis, of Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, about 512 CE. Source:Raphael (1979). (B) Scene in A traced by Singer (1958). (C) Epinoia shows themandrake to Dioscorides (right) and Krateuas (left) in the CodexVindobonensis. Source: Christopher (1981). (D) Scene in B drawn by MarthaBreen (Bredemeyer). Source: D’Andrea (1982) (E) Dioscorides from title pageof Brunfel’s Herbarium Vivae Eicones, 1530. Source: Anderson (1977). (F)Dioscorides from title page of Gerarde’s Herball (1633), 2nd ed. Source:Johnson (1633)

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM232

233� April–June 2003 13(2)

indicated by Dioscorides’ introductoryremarks, it was clearly written as a medi-cal treatise speaking directly to the needsof the patient: “Now it is obvious toeverybody that a Treatise on Medicines isnecessary for it is conjoined to the wholeart of Healing, and by itself yields amightyassistance to every part.” Furthermore, itis presented in a straightforward, morepractical manner than the earlier botani-cal treatises by Theophrastus who ismore scholarly and scientific, seeminglyinterested in plants for their own sake.Yet, Dioscorides did make an effort tosystematize knowledge with plants,grouping them by form and origin, apractice continued until Linnaeus.

PLINY’S Historia Naturalis. Plinythe Elder (23–79), the prolific author ofHistoria Naturalis, compiled a monu-mental encyclopedic treatment of sci-ence and ignorance. Pliny’s coverage ofthe natural world is the best known andmost widely referred source book onclassical natural history. Although overcredulous, Pliny is an amazing font of

information on every conceivable factand legend including large sections onplant cures and medicinal uses. Whilemost of the herbals of antiquity haveperished, we know of them indirectlyfrom the writing of others, particularlyPliny. He records that Krateuas, a Greekherbalist and physician to MithridatesVI, King of Pontus from 120–63 BCE

(the hero of an early Mozart opera),described the nature of herbs and paintedthem in color (Pliny is dismissive of theirquality), creating the first illustratedherbal.

HERBAL OF APULEIUS PLATONICUS.An herbal derived from Pliny andDioscorides, known as the Herbal ofApuleius Platonicus, may have beenoriginally compiled around 400 CE andis the source of many medieval illus-trated herbals. The text is much inferiorto Dioscorides and the illustrations arecrude but it appears to have gone throughmany revisions and transformations. Theearliest extant manuscript dates fromthe 6th century and it was translated into

Anglo-Saxon in the 11th century. TheApuleius herbal despite its poor qualitywas to have a powerful influence in themedieval world.

Medieval herbal manuscriptsAfter the fall of the Roman Empire

in the 6th century, there was a decline inknowledge in the Western World and aperiod of regression, known to us as theDark Ages. During the next 600 yearsthe center of gravity of intellectualthought shifted to the Moslem world, abyproduct of the invasion and conquestof Byzantium. Moslem and Jewish schol-ars collected manuscripts from antiq-uity, developed scientific and techno-logical schools of learning, and trans-lated the manuscripts from Greek toArabic. Vestiges of scholarship persistedin the monastery libraries where learn-ing was kept alive in the West, althoughthe Christian Church was more inter-ested in theology than natural history.

The Physica of Hildegarde of Bingen(1099–1179), was the first book inwhich a woman discusses plants in rela-tion to medical properties and the earli-est book on natural history in Germany.Hildegarde was a mystic, prolific au-thor, and abbess of a Benedictine con-vent. The Physica, her only scientificwork, was to have a great influence onthe German botanists of the 16th cen-tury (see below).

Albert of Bollstat, 1193–1280(known as Alberto Magnus or Albertthe Great), (Fig. 7) was an early mem-ber of the Dominican Order of Preach-ing Friars that established scholarlyhouses in the European Centers ofLearning. He was responsible for thetranslations of Aristotle and influencedthe revival of botanical and horticul-tural information based on the writingof antiquity in his work On Plants.Most medieval writers thereafter drewinspiration from the Dioscoridian-Plinian tradition although the descrip-

tion increas-ingly drew onthe delinea-tion of livingplants and ef-forts weremade to rec-oncile ancient

Fig. 6. Images from Dioscorides. (A) Cowpea; (B) Ferula, Codex Vindobonensis,about 512 CE. Source: Arber (1938); (C) Lady’s bedstraw (Galium), Cranesbill(Erodium), and Geranium; (D) Winter cherry (Physalis) and Mulleins(Verbascum). Codex Neopolitanus, 7th century. Source: Blunt and Raphael(1979).

Fig. 7.AlbertusMagnus(1193–1280).

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM233

234 � April–June 2003 13(2)

writings with native flora. By the 14th

century, a trend toward more natural-istic drawings became apparent sug-gesting the influence of the Renais-sance in art and ideas. Plants were nolonger slavishly copied from past manu-scripts but redrawn afresh, with artiststaking advantage of the local flora.

In the late Middle Ages, the con-cept of doctrine of signatures devel-oped in which the inner qualities ofherbs were thought to be revealed byexternal signs (Fig. 8). This was codi-fied by mystical writers such asParacelsus (1493–1541) and Gianbat-tista Porta, author of Phytognomonica(1588). Thus, long-lived plants wouldlengthen a man’s life, short-lived plantswould abbreviate it. Yellow sap wouldcure jaundice, plants with a roughsurface would cure diseases that destroythe smoothness of skin, and plants thatresembled butterflies would cure insectbites. The concept was that medicinalplants were stamped with a clear indica-tion of their uses. A 17th century dispen-sary explains the concept.

The powers of Hypericum are de-duced as follows: I have oft declaredhow by the outward shapes and quali-ties of things we know their inwardvirtues which God hath put in them forthe good of man. So in John’s wort wetake notice of the form of the leavesand flowers, the porosity of the leaves,the Veins. 1. The porosity roles in theleaves signifie to us, that his herb helpsboth inward and outward holes or cutsin the skin. 2. The flowers of SaintJohn’s wort, when they are putrifiedthey are like blood; which teacheth us,that this herb is food for wounds, toclose them and fill them up [Paracelusfrom Arber (1938)].

ies. Thus, the printed book became asource of information for the middleclasses, while the focus of inquiry andnew information came out of the bur-geoning universities. In the 16th cen-tury, the age of exploration and thebeginnings of scientific inquiry, the tre-mendous interest in the new plants dis-covered in the New Worlds broughtabout an unprecedented demand forthe printed herbal.

One of the most influential of thenew printed herbals in the 16th centurywas the Commentarii (on the six booksof Dioscorides) written in Italian andlater in Latin by Pier Andrea Mattioli(1501–1577) of Sienna in 1544 (Fig.9). This work, containing 562 wood-cuts, sought to reconcile Dioscorideswith innovations of Arab scholars andthe new botanical discoveries from theOrient and America. Subsequent edi-tions brought forth magnificent illus-trations that are the apogee of theengraver’s art. Mention should also bemade of Hieronymus Brunschwig, aGerman physician and surgeon (authorof Cirurgia in 1497), who published afamous work on distillation in German(Das Buch zu Distillieren) in 1500 (Fig.

Fig. 8. Medicinal plants based on the Doctrine of Signatures in Porta’sPhytognomonica. Source: Anderson (1977). (A) Heart plants include peaches,citrons and bulbous roots. (B) Plants for scaly diseases include pine cones,thistles, catkins, and lily bulbs. The snake and fish were added to show scaly skin.

Fig. 9. (A) Pierandrea Mattioli, 1501–1577. Source: Arber (1938). (B) Portraitfrom the first Bohemian edition of Commentarii (on Dioscorides). The mottonec igne, nec ferro (neither fire nor iron) refers to his preference for medicationover surgery. Source: Anderson (1977). (C) Woodblock print of pear. Source:Arber (1938). (D) Woodblock print of apple. Source: Arber (1938). (E)Woodblock print of psyllium. Source: Singer (1958).

Printed herbalsThe advent of printing in the 15th

century and the technology of thewoodblock print was to have a enor-mous influence in herbals. Printed herb-als were in great demand by physicians,the apothecary, as well as the educatedelite who needed a source for remedies.Hand-illuminated manuscripts were tooexpensive to be owned by all exceptnobility or clergy in wealthy monaster-

10). This technology,an early application ofchemistry to medicine,was to have a profoundeffect as it allowed theconcentration of activeingredients in herbalpreparations. The workwas widely translated,and the still became aregular appliance in themanors of the wealthy.

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM234

235� April–June 2003 13(2)

THE GERMAN FATHERS OF BOTANY.German Lutherans, who reformed boththe church and botany, authored a se-ries of new herbals. These included OttoBrunfels (1468–1534), Jerome Bock(Hieronymous Tragus) (1498–1544),and Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566).

Otto Brunfels, former theologianand monk, was the author of theinfluencial Herbarum Vivae Eicones in1530 (Fig. 11). Its value was based noton the text but on the use of stunningand lifelike woodcuts by Hans Weiditzwho drew plants from nature. Thisbreakthrough in the printed herbalsmade it possible for ordinary people toactually identify the plant from thedrawing.

Jerome Bock (Fig. 12) created awell written, nonillustrated herbalcalled the Kreüter Buch that proved tobe more scientific than any sinceTheophrastus. He perfected a new ar-rangement of plants and undertook anew direction, a discussion of the char-acteristics and names of local plants,drawn from his own experience inGermany.

Leonhart Fuchs (Fig. 13) studiedat the University of Ingolstadt andreceived a Master of Arts and Doctorof Medicine. His great work, DeHistoria Stirpium, was based onDioscorides but the woodcuts reacheda new level of excellence from both abotanical and artistic point of view.Chapter headings were in Greek andplants were labeled in Latin and Ger-man. The terms masculine and femi-nine were used, not in the sexual sense,

but to distinguish stronger and weakerqualities in plants, a medieval concept.The 508 woodcuts supervised by Fuchswere outstanding and formed the basisfor later herbals. Over 100 new plantsare mentioned including maize, calledTürkisch korn because it was thoughtto come from Turkey rather than theAmericas. The same error was respon-sible for the misnomer of the Ameri-can bird we still call turkey!

THE FLEMISH BOTANISTS. ThreeFlemish botanists, Rembert Dodoens,Charles de l’Escluse, and Matthias del’Obel, have been immortalized withgenera names in their honor: Dodoneae,Clusia, and Lobelia. Dodoens, 1517–1585 (Fig. 14), the most prominent,was born in Flanders and graduated inmedicine from the University ofLouvain at the age of 18 years. He laterbecame the personal physician of theEmperor Maximilian II, and laterRudolph, but ultimately finished hiscareer at the University of Leyden asChair of Medicine (1582). His majorbotanical work, Crôÿdeboeck publishedin 1554, provided the basis for allfurther botanical writings and was even-tually published as Stirpium Historiaein Pemptades Sex, a folio volume of900 pages with 1,309 woodcuts, manyof them copied from Fuchs and six ofthem from the Codex Vindobonensis ofDioscorides. Charles de l’Ecluse(Charles de l’Escluse or CarolusClausius) translated the Crôÿdeboeck

into French under the title Histoire desPlantes (Fig. 15). Matthias de l’Obel(died 1616) spent much of his profes-sional life in England (Fig. 16). Hecoauthored a work, StirpiumAdversaria Nova with Pierre Pena,with an improved system of classifica-tion, and was an ill-fated colleague ofJohn Gerard (see below).

ENGLISH HERBALS. The herbal inEnglish has a tortuous history (Henrey,1975). There were some manuscriptsas early as the 6th century and a 10thcentury fragment, Leech Book of Bald(900–950), is the oldest to survive.After the Norman conquest, AngloSaxon herbals fell into disrepute andLatin took over as the language of theeducated but many English herbalswere merely translations. The newherbals were delayed in England be-cause printing had a late start.

Banckes’ Herbal of 1524 was thefirst printed English Herbal and wentthrough many editions and emenda-tions. A compilation by RichardBanckes rather than a translation, itwas probably based on a medievalmanuscript. The first illustrated En-glish herbal was the Grete Herball of1527 (Fig. 16), a translation from theFrench (Le Grant Herbier) with partsderived from German herbals[Herbarius (1485) and the HortusSanitatus (1491)].

William Turner (1508–1568),known as the Father of British Botany,

Fig 10. Heironymus Brunschwig’sfrontpiece for Das Buch zuDistillieren 1500. Source: Anderson(1977).

Fig. 11. (A) Otto Brunfels. (B) Herbarium Vivae Eicones frontpiece, 1530. (C)Image of Anemone pulsatilla, showing the advance in drawing.

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM235

236 � April–June 2003 13(2)

published two small books in 1583,giving the names of herbs in Greek,Latin, English, German, and French.His famous Herball published in threeparts (1551, 1562, and 1568) was thefirst to describe British plants fromobservation and experience. Over 200species native to England are described.He scoffed at superstitions and cau-tioned against overuse of any herb. In1578, Henry Lyte (1529–1560) pro-duced A Nievve Herball, an Englishtranslation of l’Ecluse’s French ver-sion of Dodoen’s Crôÿdeboeck of 1554(Fig. 18).

The most famous English herbal,and deservedly so, is The Herball orGenerall Historie of Plantes by JohnGerard (1545–1612) known asGerarde’s Herball of 1597. JohnGerard, the best known of Englishherbalists, was a barber-surgeon byprofession, but enamored of horticul-ture. He had a famous garden atHolborn (Fetter’s Lane) and super-vised the garden of William Cecil (LordBurleigh), the famous minister ofQueen Elizabeth, in the Strand and atTheobalds in Herfordshire. In 1596,he compiled a list of plants at Holborn,the first catalogue ever published inEngland from which it is possible tobenchmark the introduction of newplants to England.

The origins of the work are fasci-nating. The printer John Norton com-missioned a certain Robert Priest totranslate Dodoens final work, thePemptades of 1583, but Priest diedbefore completion. Gerard adopted

Fig. 12. Hieronymus Bock or Tragus1498–1554. Author of Kreuter Buch,1551. Source: Arber (1938).

Priest’s translation but changed thearrangement from Dodoen to that ofl’Obel. In his introduction he writes:“…Doctor Priest, one of our LondonColledge, hath (as I heard) translatedthe last Editions of Dodonaeus, andmeant to publish the same; but beingprevented by death his translation like-wise perished.” According to Arber(1938) the interpolation “as I heard”is undoubtedly a falsehood. One of theprefatory letters written by StephenBredwel acknowledges: “D. Priest forhis translation of so much as Dodonaeushath hereby left a tomb for his honorablesepulture. M. Gerard coming last butnot the least, hath many waies accom-modated the whole worke into our En-glish nation...” (Moral: Read yourprefatory letters!).

The wood blocks in the Gerardherbal are from the Eicones Plantarumof Jacobus Theodorus (Tabernaemon-tanus) of 1590. There were some prob-lems in getting the right woodcutswith the correct description and l’Obelwas requested to correct the figures.

An argument developed and Gerardstopped the collaboration on the shakygrounds that l’Obel had forgotten hisEnglish!

Although Gerard is somewhatcredulous and his reputation is tar-nished, his style is graceful and Eliza-bethan. It is his additions that give thework its charm and character. TheHerball is famous for the first Englishdescription of sweet potato and po-tato. The first edition held the fieldwithout competition for a generationwhen it was rumored that a JohnParkinson would soon produce a newherbal. Thus, Thomas Johnson wascommissioned to prepare a new edi-tion of Gerard’s Herball. The secondedition of 1633 contained 2766 woodblocks and is considered superior tothe original. Dover Press printed afacsimile edition in 1975 (Fig. 19).

Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654),the author of A Physicall Directory,was an herbalist who abandoned com-mon sense, and the leading 17th cen-tury exponent of astrological botany

Fig. 13. (A) Leonhard Fuchs (1501–1566). Source: Arber (1938). (B) The firstwoodcut of maize called Türckisch korn from De Historia Stirpium 1542.Source: Blunt and Raphael (1979). (C) Engraver (Veit Rudolf Speckle) andillustrators (Heinrich Fullmaurer and Albrecht Meyer) of De Historia Stirpium.Source: Arber (1938).

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM236

237� April–June 2003 13(2)

Fig. 14. Rembert Dodoens, 1517–1585. Source: Arber (1938).Frontpiece of Crôÿdeboeck, 1554. The French translation was pub-lished in English, 1578, under the title of A Nievve Herbal by HenryLyte. 1578 (see Fig. 17).

Fig. 15. Charles de L’Escluse(L’Ecluse) 1526–1609. Source:Arber (1938).

Fig. 16. Mathias de L’Obel (1538–1616). Source: Arber (1938).

Fig. 17. The Grete Herball of 1526.Source: Henrey (1975).

led to a revival of interest in the oldherbals. Some of the ancient herbshave been resurrected, and in manycases new benefits have been claimed.These include echinacea, approved inGermany for supportive therapy forcolds and chronic infections of therespiratory tract and lower urinary tract,ginseng as a tonic and adaptogen, andSt. John’s wort for mild depression.The reader is advised to be cautiousand pursue a common sense approachto herbal medicine. An authoritativereview of herbal medicine can be foundin The Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guideto Herbs and Related Remedies by VarroE. Tyler (1981).

Fig. 18. Lyte’s A Nievve Herball of1578. Source: Henrey (1975).

(Fig. 20). He believed that every dis-ease was caused by a planet and that inorder to effect a cure an herb belong-ing to an opposing planet must beused. He also held the view that curescould sometimes be made by sympa-thy, this is by the use of herbs underthe dominion of the planet responsiblefor the disease, “every planet cures hisown disease” he wrote “as the sun andmoon by their herbs cure the eyes, Saturnthe spleen, Jupiter the liver, Mars thegall, and diseases of choller” (Henrey,1975). Culpepper was immenselypopular up to the 19th century and isstill quoted by the credulous.

ConclusionsHerbal cures in the past vary from

sensible, ineffective, ridiculous, toharmful. While we smile at the outra-geous claims of the herbalist, it is a factthat drugs derived from plants stillremain the basis for much of modernmedicine. The modern trend is to dis-cover the active ingredient and synthe-size variations or permutations of theefficacious molecules. Unfortunatelypharmaceutical companies are not in-terested in botanicals as such becausethey cannot be protected by patent.The recent interest in herbs as cures orinducers of wellness is now a promi-nent part of alternate medicine and has

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM237

238 � April–June 2003 13(2)

Fig. 20. Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654), astrologic botanist. Source:Arber (1938).

Fig. 19. Frontpiece of The Herball of John Gerarde, 2nd ed.(1633).

Literature citedAnderson, F.J. 1977. The illustrated his-tory of the herbal. Columbia Univ. Press,New York.

Arber, A. 1938. Herbals: Their origin andevolution; a chapter in the history of botany.3rd ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

Blunt, W. and S. Raphael. 1980. The illus-trated herbal. Thames and Hudson, NewYork.

Bryan, C.P. 1936. The papyrus Ebers. D.Appleton and Co., New York.

Christopher, T.A. 1981. The seeds ofbotany. Natural History 9(3):50–56.

Cowen, D.L. and W.H. Helfand. 1988.Pharmacy: An illustrated history. Harry N.Abrams, Inc, New York.

D’Andrea, J. 1982. Ancient herbs. J. PaulGetty Museum, Malibu, Calif.

Gerard, J. 1633. The herball or generalhistorie of plants very much enlarged andamended by Thomas Jefferson. Adam Islip,John Norton and Richard Whitaker, Lon-don (Dover facsimile ed., 1925).

Gunther, R.T. 1934. The Greek herbal ofDioscorides. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Henrey, B. 1975. British botanical andhorticultural literature before 1800. 3 vol.Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Janick, J. 1989. Theophrastus, p. 3–13. In:J. Janick (ed.). Classical papers in horticul-tural science. Prentice Hall, EnglewoodCliffs, N.J.

Janick, J. 2002. Ancient Egyptian agricul-ture and the origins of horticulture. ActaHort. 582:23–39.

Kramer, S.N. 1954. First pharmacopeia inman’s recorded history. Amer. J. Phar-macy 126:76–84.

Rosengarten, Jr., F. 1969. The book ofspices. Jove. Publ., New York.

Singer, C. 1923. Herbals. Edinburgh Rev.237:85–112.

Singer, C. 1927. The herbal in antiquityand its transmission to later ages. J. Hel-lenic Studies 47:1–42.

Singer, C. 1958. From magic to science.Dover, New York.

Sonnedecker, G. 1976. Kremers andUrdang’s history of pharmacy 4th ed.Lippincott, Philadelphia.

Tyler, V.E. 1981. The honest herbal.George F. Stickley Co., Philadelphia.

Workshop1 2/27/03, 1:31 PM238