122 Plant Description [ch. 



as sorell, and hath a yelowe flowre." As another example 

 we may cite the Chicory, which is described as having 

 " croked and wrythen stalkes, and the floure is of y e colour 

 of the skye." Of the Waterlilies, we receive a still more 

 generalised account : " Nenufar is an herbe that groweth 

 in water, and hath large leves and hath a floure in maner 

 of a rose, the rote thereof is called treumyan and is 

 very bygge. It is of two maners. One is whyte, and 

 another yelowe." Occasionally we meet with a hint of 

 more detailed observation. For instance, the coloured 

 central flower in the umbel of the Carrot is mentioned, 

 though in terms that sound somewhat strange to the modern 

 botanist. We read that it "hath a large floure and in the 

 myddle therof a lytell reed prycke." 



It is somewhat remarkable that Banckes^ Herbal, though 

 originally published a year earlier than the first edition of 

 the Grete Herball, shows a slight but distinct superiority 

 in the matter of description (see p. 38). Perhaps this is to 

 be connected with the fact that Banckes' Herbal is without 

 illustrations. But even if we allow that the descriptions 

 in Banckes' Herbal occasionally seize on salient features, it 

 must be admitted that they still leave a great deal to the 

 imagination. As two typical examples, which are perhaps 

 as good as any in the book, we may take those of Tutsan 1 

 and of Shepherd's Purse. Of the first the herbalist writes, 

 " This herbe hathe leves somdele reed lyke unto ye leves 

 of Orage. And this herbe hathe senowes on his leves as 

 hath Plantayne, and it hathe yelowe floures and bereth 

 blacke berys, and it groweth in dry woodes." Of Shepherd's 

 Purse he says, " This herbe hathe a small stalke and full 

 of braunches and ragged leves and a whyte flowre. The 

 coddes therof be lyke a purse." 



The ' Herbarum vivse eicones' of Otto Brunfels (1530) 

 was the first herbal illustrated with drawings, which are 

 throughout both beautiful and true to nature. The. de- 

 scriptions, on the other hand, are quite unworthy of the 

 figures, being mostly borrowed from earlier writers. The 

 wonderful excellence of the wood-blocks, with which the 

 German Fathers of Botany enriched their books, was, in 

 one sense, an actual hindrance to the development of the 



1 Hypericum androscemum L. 



