herbal

Dictionary: herb·al   (ûr'bəl, hûr'-)

Of, relating to, or containing herbs.

A book about plants and herbs, especially those that are useful to humans.

(click to enlarge)
Watercolour illustration from the Badianus Manuscript, an Aztec herbal in Latin by Juan … (credit: Courtesy of the Vatican Library, Vatican City)

Ancient manual of plants used for medicinal purposes. Hundreds or thousands of medicinal plants were known in ancient India, China, and Greece and medieval Europe. In the late 16th century, European herbals began to include plants from the Western Hemisphere. Their accuracy varies widely, but many of the plants in herbals later became sources for drugs (e.g., digitalis).

For more information on herbal, visit Britannica.com.

An old, usually pre-Linnaean book containing lists and descriptions of herbs. Although the herbalists who wrote these volumes made many quaint mistakes about plants and their “virtues,” the great value of these mostly 16th-century German and British books is that they contain a complete description of what was cultivated at the time.

A[n] herbal is a book, often illustrated, that describes the appearance, medicinal properties, and other characteristics of plants used in herbal medicine.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Herbal

See also

• Ayurveda
• Herbalism (herbal medicine)
• Herbal liqueurs
• Elizabeth Blackwell (illustrator)
• Hieronymus Bock
• Valerius Cordus
• Nicholas Culpeper
• Pedanius Dioscorides
• Leonhart Fuchs
• John Gerard
• Maud Grieve, author of A Modern Herbal
• Hildegard of Bingen
• Shen Nong, the Green Emperor
• Susun Weed, Dedicated to the Wise Woman tradition
• Pharmacopoeia

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - urteagtig
n. - plantebog, botanik

Nederlands (Dutch)
kruidenboek, herbarium, kruiden-

Français (French)
adj. - à base de plantes, parfumé
n. - herbier

Deutsch (German)
n. - Pflanzenbuch
adj. - Kräuter-

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - βιβλίο βοτανοθεραπευτικής
adj. - βοτανικός, από χόρτα

Italiano (Italian)
erbario, di erba

Português (Portuguese)
n. - livro (m) sobre ervas ou plantas (arc.)
adj. - relativo a ervas ou plantas

Русский (Russian)
травяной, травник, гербарий

Español (Spanish)
adj. - herbario
n. - herbario

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bok om örtväxter
adj. - ört-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
草药的, 草本书, 植物志

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 草藥的
n. - 草本書, 植物誌

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 초본의, 풀의, 약초의
n. - 본초서, 식물지, 식물 표본

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 薬草の, 草の, 草本の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كتاب في الأعشاب (صفه) عشبي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של עשבים כחומרי רפואה ומאכל, עשבוני, של עשב‬
n. - ‮מגדיר צמחיה, אוסף צמחים מיובשים, עשבייה‬

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