Historia generalis plantarum : in libros XVIII per certas classes artificiose digesta, Haec plusquam mille imaginibus plantarum locupletior superioribus, omnes propemodum quae ab antiquis scriptoribus, Graecis, Latinis, Arabibus, nominantur: necnon eas quae in orientis atque Occidentis partibus, ante seculum nostrum incognitis, repertae fuerunt, tibi exhibet ; habes etiam earundem plantarum peculiaria diversis nationibus nomina: habes amplas descriptiones, è quibus singularum genus, formam, ubi crescant et quo tempore vigeant, natiorum temperamentum, vires denique in Medicina proprias cognosces.
Historia generalis plantarum is a 1587 Latin herbal compiled by the French physician Jacques Dalechamps and printed at Lyon by Guillaume Rouillé, aimed at physicians and students of medicinal plants. Its pictures are small black-and-white woodcuts of whole plants, showing roots, stems, leaves and flower heads in clear outline, with no shading or setting, so a designer can take simple botanical line drawings as a model for stylised plant illustration.
