XVI International Botanical Congess

Herbals from the period 1200-1400 are our best source of information about medieval European knowledge of plants. However, we still lack a systematic analysis of the ways these herbals were produced, copied, and used in this period. This paper focuses on the textual and pictorial relationships among three groups of herbals: those associated with the medical school of Salerno, herbals produced by alchemists and empirics for their own use, and herbals used by pharmacists.