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Herbal facts for kids

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Dioscorides De Materia Medica Byzantium 15th century
Dioscorides', De Materia Medica, Byzantium, 15th century.
Johnson Papyrus, fragment of an illustrated herbal. Wellcome L0015764
5th century AD, the oldest known surviving herbal illustration

A herbal is a collection of plant descriptions: Very often, it also lists the properties of each plant, or its use, for example for medicine or alchemy. A herebal can also classify the plants it describes. One of the oldest known herbals is the Vienna Dioscurides dating from the 6th century. Physicians and Apothecaries were the main users of such books. Herbals were also important for the study of botany. Hieronymus Bock descrived the plants of southwestern Germany, in his 16th century herbal; he was the first to mention certain morphological features.

Related pages

  • Herbarium or Herbar - a collection of plant specimens

Images for kids

  • Teofrasto Orto botanico detail

    Statue of Theophrastus c. 371 – c. 287 BCE, Orto botanico di Palermo

  • Ebers7766

    A page from the Ebers Papyrus, the most complete and extensive of surviving ancient herbals

  • AlbertusMagnus

    Albertus Magnus c. 1193–1280, author of De Vegetabilibus

  • Elizabeth Blackwell00

    Illustration from Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal (1737)

  • Otto Brunfels01

    A Hans Weiditz hand-coloured woodcut from Otto Brunfels' Herbarum Vivae Eicones

  • Appolinaris. Chamomeleon. Sliatriceo. Narcissus

    Early Italian manuscript herbal, c. 1500. Plants illustrated are Appolinaris, Chamomeleon, Sliatriceo and Narcissus

  • John-Parkinson

    An engraving of Parkinson from his work Theatrum Botanicum (1640), reprinted in Agnes Arber's Herbals

  • Zh pharmacopoeia 2

    Back cover of the Chinese pharmacopoeia (1930)

  • Delphinium peregrinum

    Illustration of Delphinium peregrinum in Flora Graeca by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer (1806–1840)

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Herbal Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.