Herbals
Read about Herbals in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Herbals. Books on plants, published from the fourteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, were largely written from the medicinal point of view, and were often called herbals. The scientific point of view of plant - knowledge is conveniently dated from 1753, when Linnaeus published his "Species Plantarum." Of the herbalists, John Gerarde is probably read most at the present time. His style is chatty, quaint and personal. One of the notions accepted by the early herbalists was that of the vegetable lamb, which is pictured in this work under Cibotium (Fig. 961). Another idea that fascinated these worthy plant-lovers was that of the arnacle goose tree. Fig. 1810 is reproduced from a book by Duret, 1605, and shows how the fruits that fall upon dry land become "flying birds, while those that fall into the water become "swimming fishes." Other conceptions of this goose tree are reproduced in the "Gardeners' Magazine," 35:749 (1892). Almost every large library possesses a few herbals, as Matthiolus, Bauhin, L'Obel and Fuchsius. The largest collection of herbals in America is the one given by the late E. Lewis Sturtevant to the Missouri Botanical Garden at St. Louis. See Agnes Arber (Mrs. E. A. Newell Arber). "Herbals: Their Origin ana: Evolution," a recent British work. The herbals are invaluable in tracing the growth of ideas about plants.
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