TABULAR VIEW 
OF 
PLANT-—WRITERS BEFORE 1600, 
SHOWING ESTIMATED DATE OF AUTHORSHIP; ALSO SUBJECT, 
LANGUAGE AND NATIONALITY 
Most writers before Brunfels (1530), and, in diminishing de- 
gree, before Clusius (1576 and in completer form 1601), treat 
plants chiefly from the standpoint of reputed medical powers. 
That will be understood of the authors and works in this list, with 
exception of those specifically otherwise named, especially those 
treating agriculture or plant-physiology. Onward till Clusius and 
Cesalpino (1583), this insistence upon remedial agencies remained 
prominent, but with the difference of gradually shifting propor- 
tions, the proportion of descriptive matter being greatly increased © 
in works such as those of Bock, Lobel and Clusius. 
Works of which the authors are wholly unknown are entered 
in this list in italics. A few abbreviations used include, with 
slight variation for context, az. author, ¢. translated, 4. born, @. 
died, def. before, c. or -, about. 
A few authors of special botanical importance are capitalized. 
Approximate or estimated dates are the only possible dates in 
most cases before the invention of printing. Such approximation 
is indicated by a prefixed medial dot, -, (as - 1000, = about 1000 
A. D.) instead of using circa. Dates from 1475 (the Buch der 
Natur) onward, are dates of first printing, not of authorship, un- 
less otherwise stated ; and most of these are exact. 
The language in which an author wrote is indicated by the 
heading over the column in which his name begins. 
His nationality, if it is not expressed by the language, as in case 
of many writers in Latin after the development of English, Ger- 
man, etc., is indicated by heading or by abbreviation following 
his name. Most of the earlier German writers belong to the Rhine 
provinces, and are here designated under the term Rhenish. In the 
column used for those of the Salernitan school in Italy, a few 
writers are also classed who worked over Salernitan material, viz., 
Bertharius, Otho Cremonensis, and Arnald de Villanova. Other 
Italians are classed under a separate column, Italian. 
No part of this list is or could be exhaustive ; but particular 
fullness has been given to the mediaeval portion, especially the 
early English ; because so commonly ignored. 
