Our Sources

Herbadec's research database contains over 10,000 pages from ancient, medieval and early modern medical and herbal texts. This information on medicinal plants and their uses, spanning over 1600 years, is then supplemented by modern ethnopharmacological studies from around the world.

The main part of our collections are the Latin,
Hebrew and Arabic texts representing the Middle Eastern and
European medical tradition (geographically from Persia to Spain
and from North Africa to North-Western Europe and England).

We also have a comprehensive database of American Indian
herbal traditions, including pre-Conquistador texts.

New material is continuously added to database, especially from
Chinese, Indian, South-East Asian and Maori sources.

Examples of the source material:

Ancient Greco-Roman medicine:

Dioscorides (Anazarbos, 1st cent.)

Galen (Pergamum/Rome, 2nd cent.)

Middle East:

Asaph Harofe (Mesopotamia; 6th cent.)

al-Kindi (Saudi Arabia, 8th cent.)

al-Tabari (Persia, 800-875)

al-Razi (Persia, n. 865-925)

Ibn Sina (Persia, 980-1037)

Ibn Butlan (Baghdad/Syria, 11th cent.)

Maimonides (Spain/Egypt, 1138-1204)

Ibn Abi al-Bayan (Egypt, d. 1240)

Ibn al-Attar al-Israeli (Cairo, 13th cent.)

Benvenutus Grassus (Jerusalem/Italy, 13th cent.)

Ibn al-Baytar (Spain/Egypt/Syria, d.1248)

al-Antaki (Syria/Kairo, d. 1599)

Prosper Alpin (Italy/Egypt, 1553-1617)

North Africa + Spain:

Ishaq Israeli (Egypt/Kairouan; c. 855-c. 955)

Ishaq ibn Imran (Baghdad/Kairouan, 9th-10th cent.)

Ibn al-Jazzar (Kairouan, d. 979)

al-Zahrawi (Spain, 936-1013)

Europe:

Shabbetai Donnolo (Italy, 913-983)

Hildegard von Bingen (Germany, 1098-1179)

Albertus Magnus (Germany, 1206-1280)

Rufinus de Rizardo (Italy, 13th cent.)

Saladino Ferro da Ascoli (Italy 15th cent.)

Jacques Despars (Belgium/France, 15th cent.)

Nicolas Monardes (Spain, 1493-1588)

Jacob Theodor Tabernaemontanus (Germany, 1522-1590)

John Parkinson (England, 1567-1650)

Nicholas Culpeper (England, 1616-1654)

Mexico:

Francisco Hernandez (Spain/Mexico /Philippines, 1515-1587)

Gregorio Lopez (Mexico, 1542-1596)