Herbal facts for kids
A herbal is like a special book or collection that describes different plants. It often tells you what each plant looks like, where it grows, and what it can be used for. People in the past used herbals a lot for medicine, cooking, or even just to learn about nature.
What is a Herbal?
A herbal is a detailed guide to plants. It usually includes drawings or pictures to help identify them. Besides describing plants, herbals often list their special properties. For example, they might explain if a plant can be used as a medicine to help sick people. They were also important for studying botany, which is the science of plants.
Who Used Herbals?
Doctors and pharmacists, called apothecaries, were the main people who used these books. They needed to know which plants could be used to make medicines. Herbals helped them identify the correct plants and understand their uses.
History of Herbals
One of the oldest known herbals is the Vienna Dioscurides. It was created around the 6th century. This shows that people have been writing about plants for a very long time.
In the 16th century, a person named Hieronymus Bock wrote a herbal. He described plants found in southwestern Germany. He was one of the first to point out specific features of plants. This helped people understand plants better.
Related pages
- Herbarium or Herbar - a collection of plant specimens
Images for kids
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Statue of Theophrastus c. 371 – c. 287 BCE, Orto botanico di Palermo
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A page from the Ebers Papyrus, the most complete and extensive of surviving ancient herbals
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Albertus Magnus c. 1193–1280, author of De Vegetabilibus
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Illustration from Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal (1737)
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A Hans Weiditz hand-coloured woodcut from Otto Brunfels' Herbarum Vivae Eicones
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Early Italian manuscript herbal, c. 1500. Plants illustrated are Appolinaris, Chamomeleon, Sliatriceo and Narcissus
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An engraving of Parkinson from his work Theatrum Botanicum (1640), reprinted in Agnes Arber's Herbals
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Back cover of the Chinese pharmacopoeia (1930)
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Illustration of Delphinium peregrinum in Flora Graeca by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer (1806–1840)
