Medical flora, or, Manual of the medical botany of the United States of North America : containing a selection of above 100 figures and descriptions of medical plants, with their names, qualities, properties, history, &c. and notes or remarks on nearly 500 equivalent substitutes

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque

Atkinson & Alexander / Published by Samuel C. Atkinson, 1828

[A groundbreaking book on medical plants, written by the quite exceptional genius Constantine Rafinesque] 2 volumes, bound as one. Contemporary boards, rebacked with modern leather spine. Minor staining to the first 30 pages, scattered spotting.  [8], xii, 268; 276 pp. 99 of 100 woodcut plates (lacking plate 99), printed in green.  "Beginning in 1818, with his 2,000-mile tour to the west of the Alleghenies, Rafinesque made important botanical explorations, mostly on foot, as far as Kentucky and Illinois" (DSB). This, Rafinesque's most recent work, "became the vade-mecum of the Botanic physicians. It must be remembered that medical treatment was at that time largely based on vegetable drugs and what Rafinesque sought was to write a medical botany adapted to the needs of the American physician and pharmacist" (Lilly 137). "It was his aim to provide an accurate, cheap, and portable manual for anyone interested in medical botany." - Heirs of Hippocrates 1374.  "This work describes for the first time a number of American Indian remedies." - GM.  Additional Refs: Garrison-Morton 1849; Nissen, Botany, 1579; Pritzel 7401; Reynolds 3451; Sabin 67457; Stafleu & Cowan 8579; Norman 1774.