What is Herbal?
[[File:Dioscorides De Materia Medica Byzantium 15th century.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Dioscorides', ''[[Materia Medica|De Materia Medica]]'', [[Byzantium]], 15th century.]] [[File:Johnson Papyrus, fragment of an illustrated herbal. Wellcome L0015764.jpg|thumb|250px|right|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 [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] features. ==Related pages== *[[Herbarium]] or Herbar - a collection of plant specimens {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Herbs]] [[Category:Biology books]]