Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1607

JOHN LINDLEY (1799-1865) Flora medica. Printed for Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans 1838 xiii [3] 655 [1] pp. 21.9 cm.

Professor of botany at the University of London and the outstanding taxonomist of his time, Lindley was a prolific writer on botanical subjects. He was secretary to the Horticultural Society and was noted for his research on roses. Lindley prepared the present work to provide an inexpensive source of information on world-wide medicinal plants that could be used as a textbook by medical students or as a reference by physicians. It was his purpose to provide correct and accurate information about each plant and he aimed to include only those plants whose medicinal use was well recognized by the medical community. He commented on the inability of the botanists of his day to agree on classification and arranged the book in accordance with his own classification, because he felt that it was familiar to most of his readers. Lindley's entries are detailed and include the plant's Latin name, its description, references to other botanical works, its country of origin, and medicinal uses.

Cited references: Wellcome III, p. 522

Gift of John Martin, M.D.