Hortus Americanus

What it is

An alphabetical account of the trees, shrubs and herbs of Jamaica and the neighboring mainland, with how each was eaten, used around the house and used as medicine. Written in the early 1700s and first printed in Kingston in 1794, long after the author's death.

Whose knowledge it records

Written down by an English surgeon and planter in Jamaica. Much of what he records came from enslaved Africans and from Indigenous Americans, whom he credits as groups but rarely names as people.

Passages transcribed

• ANOTTO. (pp. 4–5)
• GINGER. (p. 65)
• GUAVAS. (p. 70)
• GUINEA-HEN WEED. (p. 71)
• LIGNUM VITÆ. (p. 87)
• PAPAWS. (pp. 134–135)
• PHYSIC-NUTS. (p. 141)
• SOUR-SOP. (p. 177)