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1640
PARKINSON, J. Theatrum
botanicum: the theater of plants; or, an herball of a large extent...
London: T. Cotes, 1640.
The title page of John Parkinson's Theatrum Botanicum
proclaims it as "An Herball of Large Extent." It truly is, for there are
1,755 folio-sized pages, over 2,700 woodcuts, and descriptions of more
than 3,800 plants. The author, John Parkinson (1567-1650), of London,
served as apothecary to James I and Charles I. The Theatrum is
encyclopedic, referencing virtually everything that had ever been
written on the subject of medicinal plants. Parkinson divided the plant
world into seventeen "tribes" based on the plants' properties rather
than their natural attributes. His first "tribe" bears the title "Sweet
Smelling Herbes" in which he placed such unrelated plants as hyssop,
thyme, and marjoram.
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