v] 



German Fathers of Botany 



123 



art of plant description. Since the pencil of the draughts- 

 man could represent every subtlety in the characteristic 

 form of a plant, the botanist might well be excused for 

 thinking that to take the trouble to set beside the drawing 

 a precise, verbal description of the plant in question was 

 a work of supererogation. However, in another sense 



PIONfA 



Text-fig. 57. "Pionia" = Peony [Arnaldus de Villa Nova, 

 Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum, 1499]- 



the draughtsman indirectly helped the cause of scientific 

 accuracy in what, for want of a better expression, may be 

 called word-painting. There is no doubt that constant 

 critical examination of the artist's work must have tended 

 to educate the eye of the botanist who supervised his 



