XVI International Botanical Congess

The first century of the Christian Era saw the compilation of Dioscorides' Materia medica and Pliny's Natural History. These two authors had a longer influence on the study of plants--and a stronger impact on the directions botany took--than anyone until Linnaeus. Dioscorides and Pliny also provide us with a detailed view of the ways plants were understood and used in the ancient Mediterranean world.