Primary Sources for the Materia Medica

Many thousands of references have been used to create the detailed Herbal Monographs which has been compiled for over 20 years before being used to form MedicineTraditions. However, the following gives a list of some of the most important reference sources. So where ‘TCM’ is listed as a source, it can often be found in Bensky, for example. Likewise, if Salmon or Dioscorides are given as references in the Monographs, the sources referred to will generally be listed below.


Traditional Western
Pharmacopoeia & Dispensatories
-Antidotarium, Mesue, 1550
-Antidotarium Speciale, Wecker, 1588?
-Armen Pharmacopoea, Hufeland, 1825
-Dispensarium Electorale Hassiacum, Marbourg, 1806
-Dispensarium Lippiacum, 1792
-Dispensatorium Fuldense, Frankfurt, 1791
-Dispensatorium Medico Pharmaceuticum Palatinatus, Manheim, 1764
-Dispensatorium Pharmaceuticum Brunsvicense, 1777
-Dispensatorium, Val Cordi, 1622
-Farmacopea Ferrarensis, 1825
-Formulaire de Montpellier, Bories, 1822
-Formulaire Magistral et Memorial Pharmaceutique, 1823
-Formulaire Pharmaceutitique a l’usage des Hospitaux Militaires de France, 1821
-Memorial Pharmaceutique, Pierquin, 1824
-Nouveau Formulaire Medicale et Pharmaceutique, Saint-Marie, Paris, 1820
-Pharmacia Rationalis, Piderit, 1806
-Pharmacopee Usuelle, Van Mons, Louvain, 1821
-Pharmacopoeia Amstelodamensis, Amsterdam, 1792
-Pharmacopoeia Austriaca, 1820
-Pharmacopoeia Bavarica, 1822
-Pharmacopoeia Castrensis Borussica, 1823
-Pharmacopoeia Danica, 1805
-Pharmacopoeia Edinburgensis, Edinborough, 1826
-Pharmacopoeia Extemporanea, Augustin, 1822
-Pharmacopoeia Gallica, Paris, 1818
-Pharmacopoeia Generalis, Spielman, Strasbourg, 1783
-Pharmacopoeia Genevensis, Geneva, 1780
-Pharmacopoeia Hannoverana, Hannover, 1819
-Pharmacopoeia Herbipolitania, Wurceburg, 1796
-Pharmacopoeia Hispana, Madrid, 1798
-Pharmacopoeia Londonensis, 1618, 1677, 1721, 1746, 1824
-Pharmacopoeia Lusitana, Lisbon, 1711
-Pharmacopoeia Manualis, Antwerp, 1812
-Pharmacopoeia Medici Practici Universalis, Van Mons, Bruxelles, 1817
-Pharmacopoeia Militaris, Copenhagen, 1818
-Pharmacopoeia Murceburgensis, 1815
-Pharmacopoeia Oldenburgica, Oldenburg, 1801
-Pharmacopoeia Pauperum Hamburgensis, Hamburg, 1804
-Pharmacopoeia Regni Poloniae, Russia, 1817
-Pharmacopoeia Sardoa, Taurini (Italy), 1773
-Pharmacopoeia Suecica, Holmiae, Sweden,  1817
-Pharmacopoeia Wirtembergica, Wirtemberg, Stuttgart, 1798
-Pharmacopoeia Wurceburgensis, Wurceburg, 1815
-Picettario Clinico, Brera, Valerien Louis, Padua, 1825


Arnold de Villa Nova
-Tractatus De Virtutibus Herbarum, Arnoldus de Villa Nova, 1520

Avicenna
-A Treatise on The Canon of Medicine of Avicenna, O. Cameron Gruner, M.D., London, 1930
-Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine, Laheh Bakhtiar, in 5 Volumes, 1999

Border
–The English Unparalleled Physician, Border, 1651

Culpeper
-Culpeper’s Complete Herbal and English Physician Enlarged, Meyerbooks, 1990.
-Pharmacopeia Londinensis; or the London Dispensatory, Further adorned by the Studies and Collections of the Fellows, 6th Enlarged Edition, Nicholas Culpeper, 1659.
-A Physical Directory, or a Translation of the Dispensatory made by the College of Physitians of London, 2nd Edition, Nicholas Culpeper, London, 1650.
-Culpepers School of Physic, 1679

Dioscorides
-The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 1959.
-Dioscorides, Materia Medica, Mathias, 1563

Dodoens
-A Niewe Herball, 1578

Dorsten
–Botanicon Continens Herbarum, Theodore Dorsten, 1540

Galen:
-The Alphabet of Galen, A critical Edition of the Latin text with English translation and Commentary by Nicholas Everett, 2012

Gerard
-Gerard’s Herbal; The Herbal or General History of Plants, London, 1633
-Gerard’s Herbal, The Essence thereof Distilled by Marcus Woodward from the Edition of TH. Johnson, 1636

Lonicerus
-Kreuterbuch, 1564

Matthiolus
-New-Kreuterbuch, 1626

Mesue
-Antidotarium, 1550
-Examen Omnium Electuariorum Pulverum, 1548
-Opera de Medica 1589

Mynsicht
-Thesaurus & armamentarium medico-chymicum, 1682

Pemmell
-Tractatus de Simplicium Medicamentorum, 1652

Petrus
–Herbarius latinus, Petri, 1485

Salmon
-Botanologia, 1710
-The New London Dispensatory in 6 Books, 1678
-Phylaxa Medicina, Supplement to the London Dispensatory, and Doron, being a Cabinet of Choice Medicines, 1688. 1700
-Seplasium, 1693

Schroder
-‘The Compleat Chymical Dispensatory, in five books … written in Latin, by Dr. John Schroder, that most famous and faithful Chymist, and Englished, By William Rowland, Dr. of Physick … London: Printed by John Darby … ‘.

Turner, William
-The First and Second Parts of the Herbal of William Turner … 1551 and 1568.

Wirtzung, Christopher
-The General Practice of Physick (1598)

Others
-A Compendius Herbal, John Archer, London, 1673.
-A Complete History of Drugs, Pomet, translated from the French, London, 1748
–Hager’s Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice, 1878
-Sobernheim, Handbuch der Praktischen Arzneimittellehre, 1840
-Syrian ‘Book of Medicine’, Wallis Budge, 1913


Ayurveda
-Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of Indian, Government of India, 2003, 2008
-Ayurvedic Medicine The Principles of Traditional Practice, Pole, Churchill Livingstone, 2006
-Indian Herbal Remedies, Khare, Springer, 2004
-Indian Materia Medica, Dr. K. M. Nadkarni’s in II vols., Bombay, 1976 (First Ed. 1908)
-Indian Medicinal Plants, C.P. Khare, 2007
-Materia Medica of India, Khory & Katrak, 1903
-Pharmacopœia of India, Waring, 1868
-Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1890
-Rasayana – Ayurvedic herbs for longevity and rejuvenation, Puri, 2003
-Scientific Basis for Ayurvedic Therapies, edited by Lakshmi Chandra Mishra, CRC Press, 2004
-The Yoga of Herbs, David Frawley
-Mineral Drugs used in Ayurveda and Unani Medicine, S.B. Vohora and Mohammad Athar, Narosa Publishing, India, 2008
-Information gathered by Adam, in India, 1996–2019


Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
-Bensky, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Materia Medica, 3rd Edition
-Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology, Chen and Chen, 2001
-The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica, A Translation of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing by Yang Shou-zhong, Blue Poppy Press, 1998
-Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu) in 6 Vols., Editors Hu & Chen, Foreign Language Press, China, 2003
-Chinese Materia Medica in 5 books by B. E. Read, being a translation of the Pen Tsao Kang Mu of the 17th Century, Reprinted by Southern Materials Center, 1982
-Chinese Materia Medica, International Standard Library of Chinese Medicine, Chang Zhang-Fu et al., 2014
-Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicines, in 5 Volumes. Zhou, Xie and Yan, Springer, 2011
-Ten Lectures on the Use of Medicinals, Jiao Shu-De, Edited by Nigel Wiseman and Andrew Ellis, Paradigm, 2003
-The Formulas of Dr. John H.F. Shen, Hammer & Rotte, 2013
-Porter Smith, Contributions Towards the Materia Medica of China, 1871
-Information gathered by Adam in Hong Kong, Chengdu (Sichuan) and elsewhere in China, 2004–2019


Tibetan Medicine
-A Clear Mirror of Tibetan Medicinal Plants, Doctor Dawa (2 Vols), Tibet Domani, 1999
-Dictionary of Tibetan Materia Medica, Pa-saṅs-yon-tan (Sman-rams-pa.), translated by Dr. Yonten Gyatso, 1998
-Indian Medicinal Plants, C.P. Khare, 2007
-Encyclopedia of Myriad Herbs (2 Vols.), Dr. Tsering Norbu, Men-Tsee-Khang, 2016
-Essentials of Tibetan Medicine, Thinley Gyatso, Chris Hakim, 2010
-Study in Elements of Tibetan Medicine, Thupten Phuntsock & Tsewang Lhamo, 2009
-Tibetan-English Dictionary of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology, Drungtso and Drungtso, 2005
-Tibetan Medicine; a series of Journals published by Library of Tibetan Works between 1980-1985
-Tibetan Medicine, with special reference to Yoga Sataka, by Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, India, 1976.
-Information gathered by Adam, in Dharamsala (Northern India), Lhasa (Tibet), YuShu (QingHai) and Sichuan Province, China, 1996–2019


Unani
NOTE: Unani medicine sources are also found in the Ayurveda and Traditional Western sections above
-Hamdard Pharmacopoeia of Eastern Medicine, 1997
-Indian Medicinal Plants, C.P. Khare, 2007
-Indusyunic, Khan Usmanghani, Aftab Saeed, Muhammad Tanweer Alam, 1997
-Introduction to Ilmul Advia, Dr. Hifzul Kabir, Hamdard University New Delhi, 2002
–Mahadevadeva’s Hikmatprakasa – A Sanskrit treatise on Yunani medicine Part II: Text and commentary of selected verses from Section II with an annotated English translation, Jan Meulenbeld (Proceedings of the Symposium “Ayurveda in Post-Classical and Pre-Colonial India”, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, 9 July 2009)
-Mineral Drugs used in Ayurveda and Unani Medicine, S.B. Vohora and Mohammad Athar, Narosa Publishing, India, 2008
-National Formularly of Unani Medicine, Government of India, 2001–2011
-Practical Materia Medica of the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean According to the Cairo Genizah, Efraim Lev & Zohar Amar, 2008
-Unani Pharmacopoeia of Unani Medicine, Government of India, 2007–2010
-Useful Plants Drugs of Iran and Iraq, 1937
-Syrian ‘Book of Medicine’, Wallis Budge, 1913
-Information gathered by Adam, in India and XinJiang (China) 1996–2019


Modern
-A Modern Herbal, Grieve, 1992
-American Medicinal Plants, Millspaugh, 1887
-British Herbal Compendium, Bradley, P.R. (editor), 1996, British Herbal Medicine Association.
-British Herbal Pharmacopeia, British Herbal Medicine Association, 1983
-Definite Medication, Eli Jones, 1911
-ESCOP Monographs on the Medicinal Uses of Plant Drugs, European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy, 1997
-Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, James A. Duke, CRC Press
-Health through Gods Pharmacy, Maria Treben, Ennsthaler, Austria, 8th Edition, 1986
-Heilpflanzen (‘Healing Plants’), Apothekar Mannfried Pahlow, Grafe und Unzer, 1992
-Herbal Medicine, Expanded Commission E Monographs, Blumenthal, Goldberg, Brinckmann, American Botanical Council, 2000
-Herbal Medicine, Rudolf Fritz Weiss MD, english translation of the 6th German Edition by A. R. Meuss, 1988
-Herbal Medicines, Barnes, Anderson and Phillipson, Pharmaceutical Press, 2007
-King’s American Dispensatory, Felter & Lloyd, 18th Ed., 1898
-PDR for Herbal Medicine, 2000
-Rafinesque, Medical Flora, 1828
-Specific Medicines, Scudder, 1903
-Textbook of Natural Medicine, Pizzorno & Murray, 4th Ed., 2013
-The Energetics of Western Herbs, Peter Holmes, 2 Volumes, NatTrop Publishing, 1993.
-World Health Organisation Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants, 1999.
-Yoga of Herbs, Frawley & Vasant Lad, 1993

Research

–PubMed
–Google Scholar


Illustrations & Photos
-Adam Tate (Photos) (2009–present)
–botanicalillustrations.com
–Wikimedia