De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes

De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes…
Latin for Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants

This amazing herbal by 16th century Botanist, Leonhard Fuchs, focused on medicinal plants. It was published in 1542 and contained around 400 German and an additional 100 foreign plants, illustrated by way of wood-cuts. Some editions are colored but many were sold with just the black and white line illustrations allowing the purchaser to color in the plants themselves.

According to the Smithsonian, The first vocabulary of botanical terms is contained in the introduction.  Many new plants from America (Indian corn and the great pumpkin) and the new medicinal source, the foxglove, are here introduced.

There were four people involved in the production of this tome outside of the publisher.
Author and botanist, Leonhard Fuchs
Skilled artist, Albrecht Meyer, who drew the images
Heinrich Fullmaurer who transferred the images onto blocks and was a draughtsman as wellwho Vitus Rudolph Speckle carved the blocks & printed the images.

The herbal was printed by the press of Michael Isingren in Basil. This particular press was known as a top quality scientific publisher.

Leonhard Fuchs and the Mandrake page from his book.

Quick Facts

• De historia stirpium (1542):

  • Published in Basel, this monumental herbal contains over 500 plant illustrations.

  • It focused on medicinal plants, many drawn directly from nature rather than copied from older sources—an important step toward modern scientific accuracy.

  • The text was written in Latin, but Fuchs also produced a German edition to reach a wider audience.

  • It introduced several New World plants to Europe (e.g., maize, chili peppers, tobacco).

• Scientific Importance:

  • Fuchs was one of the “fathers of modern botany,” alongside Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock.

  • His insistence on firsthand observation and naturalistic depiction marked a shift from medieval herbals (which often recycled stylized, schematic images) to a Renaissance approach based on empirical study.

• Legacy:

  • The plant genus Fuchsia (named by Charles Plumier in the 17th century) honors him.

  • His herbal influenced generations of naturalists and set new standards for botanical illustration.

I have used the images as many of the original owners of this publication did, by coloring them in myself. I did have a change to view a book source that had a colored version and I based my painting on that.

Click here to go to greeting cards based on Fuchs botanicals