Hortus Jamaicensis

What it is

A two-volume account of the plants of Jamaica, their names, and how they were used as food and medicine on the island.

Whose knowledge it records

Compiled by a Jamaican colonial official from earlier writers such as Barham and Browne and from island practice, including the medicine of enslaved Africans and their descendants, which it often records without naming the people who held it.

Passages transcribed

• ARNOTTO. From Barham (vol. 1, p. 28)
• CERASEE. Hairy cerasee (vol. 1, p. 174)
• GUINEA-HEN-WEED. ALLIACEA. GARLIC. (vol. 1, pp. 354–355)
• HORSE-RADDISH TREE (moringa) (vol. 1, p. 386)
• LEMON GRASS. Genus Unknown. (vol. 1, p. 442)
• PIMENTA. MYRTUS. PIMENTA. (vol. 2, pp. 68–69)
• SARSAPARILLA. SMILAX. SARSAPARILLA. (vol. 2, pp. 141–142)
• SOUR AND SWEET SOPS. ANNONA. 1 MURICATA. ROUGH. (vol. 2, pp. 179–180)
• TAMARIND TREE. TAMARINDUS. (vol. 2, p. 224)
• VANGLO, OR OIL PLANT. SESAMUM. From Barham (vol. 2, p. 252)
• VERVAIN. VERBENA. 1. JAMAICENSIS. JAMAICA. (vol. 2, pp. 257–258)