Considerable information about herbs, medicinal plants, is contained in medieval Islamic literature, where plant life is closely associated with medicine & agronomy. Plants also were discussed in philosophical, magical, encyclopedic & geographic works.
The scholars of Islamic culture worked extensively in the combined fields of botany, herbals and healing. Several scholars contributed to the knowledge of plants, their diseases and the methods of growth. They classified plants into those that grow from cuttings, those that grow from seed and those that grow spontaneously. Great Muslim figures such as Al-Dinawari, Ibn Juljul and Ibn al-Baytar made great progress in the field. Muslim botanists knew how to produce new fruits by grafting; they combined the rose bush and the almond tree to generate rare and lovely flowers. The royal botanical gardens contained an endless variety of plants, indigenous and exotic, cultivated for their brilliant foliage, their delightful fragrance, or their culinary and medicinal virtues. In particular, they dealt with plants in a variety of ways, which included their study from a philological perspective, but most importantly for their curative and healing properties.
Since al- Al-Asma’i (740-828 C.E.), author of Kitab al-nabat wa-‘l-shajar, writers have sought to eliminate doubt concerning the correct meaning of a botanical term, the writers described the plant, including the names of its different parts as well as the synonyms which refer to it. Among these synonyms are the names applied to the plant during its different stages of growth. All kinds of different systems may be encountered, ranging from the simple alphabetical order to divisions according to practical use; divisions into trees, flowers, & garden vegetables; into trees (including shrubs) & trees may also be subdivided according to the edible qualities of the skins & kernels of their fruit.
As a result of the wide geographical spread of Islam & extensive travel within its territories adding information from Middle Eastern, Indian, & North African sources, there emerged an early botanical literature in which Muslim authors sought to determine the significance of the plants & to establish their synonyms. Progressively, the expanding plant terminology supplemented & often replaced the older Arabic nomenclature.
Abu Ubaid al-Bakri wrote a treatise on the plants & trees of Andalusia. The Andalusian philosopher Ibn Bajja (Avempace, d. 1138,) was also interested in botany. In Kitab al-nabat (liber de Plantis), he dealt with the physiology of plants & emphazised their infinite variety. He divided plants into the perfect & imperfect (those lacking the main organs), & also wrote on their reproduction cycles.
Scholars were aware that the plants' distribution is modified by the changes of topography & difference in the character of the soil. They distinguished a number of plant types according to whether the plant is found in deserts & wilderness, on mountain tops, on the river bank, on the sea-shore, in lakes, in hollows, in sandy soil, in alkaline soil or in good soil. The majority of the plants grow on the surface of the earth but a few of them grow in water, like cane, rice, narcissus & some species of reeds. Among the plants are those which grow on the surface water such as sea weed & green moss. Another type of plant is that which grows on trees such as creepers, & another still is that which grows on hard rocks, such as Khadra’ al-dimam (a thorny bush).
Physician Ibn Juljul (332-384) of Cordova had local knowledge, & ability to locate the geographic origin of plants in his writings. On Sasaliyus (Seseli), he says: `I have frequently seen it in Galicia.’ On Fu (Valeriana), he declares that he has seen it often, & it grows plentifully in the mountains around Toledo. On Qurrat al-‘ayn (Nasturtium or Sium), he states ‘this small bush is plentiful in our area’ (indana). He noted that saw it mostly at the foot of the mountains of Cordova, & has often collected it there & stored it for use.
Medieval Islamic writers also discuss botanical problems of a more general nature. Such discussions may also be found in a theological context, where they serve as proof of God’s wisdom. Al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) describes creation, from the heavens down to the plants.
The natural philosophers discuss subjects such as the place of plants on the scale of living beings; the concept of species, & the measure in which species were fixed or variable; reproduction, including spontaneous & artificial generation, the latter belonging to the field of magic & alchemy; the measure of sensibility of plants; & the functions of their different parts.
Extensive references to plants & flowers are not only found in Bedouin poetry, but also in later poetry, especially in the genres of rawdiyat, rabi’iyat & zahriyat - poems concerning gardens, springs & flowers.
Islamic travelers provided accounts of the nature, variety, location, & the origin of various plants. Their writings constitute an early botanical survey of vast & diverse lands.
The Cordova physician Al-Ghafiqi was born in Ghafiq, a town near Cordova in 1165. In his travels through Spain & North Africa, he collected plants, giving their names in Arabic, Latin & Berber.
Abu Zakariya, early botanist & agriculturist, worked in Seville in the latter part of the 12thC. His treatise on agriculture Al-Filaha consulted Greek & Arabic authorities & got much of his material from his study of husbandry in Spain itself. He discussed 585 plants & described the cultivation of 50 fruit trees. He made new observations on grafting & discussed the properties of soil & methods of fertilizing it.
The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta (d. 1377) described in his Rihla the fruit of Isfahan (apricots, quince, grapes, watermelons, coconut) & the fruit trees of India (the mango tree & sweet orange). In Malabar, he cites cinnamon & the Brazil nut; in the Maldives, he observes the coconut tree, the palm tree, the lemon tree & others; in Java he describes benzoin, camphor & clove amongst others.
A treatise of Al-Idrîsî on Materia Medica contains a description of 360 simples (medicines, generally vegetable, containing only one ingredient). There is also an account of Egyptian flora by ‘Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, who visited Egypt in 1203.
