Floræ Capensis Medicæ Prodromus (second edition)

What it is

The first catalog of the Cape's medicinal plants: a short botanical description of each plant, followed by what it was used for, how it was prepared and where it grew. It is where buchu, honeybush and Cape aloes first appear together as Cape medicines.

Whose knowledge it records

Written by a German-born physician and botanist in Cape Town. Most of the uses were learned by the colonists from the Khoikhoi and San peoples of the Cape, and from Cape Malay households; the book sometimes names the people a use came from, often in the colonial terms of its day.

Passages transcribed

• 17. Diosma (Barosma) crenata. D. C. (buchu) (pp. 7–8)
• 20. Cyclopia genistoides. Vent. (honeybush) (p. 9)
• 25. Sutherlandia frutescens. R. Br. (p. 11)
• 51. Artemisia afra. Jacq. (African wormwood) (pp. 22–23)
• 75. Leonotis Leonurus. R. Br. (wild dagga) (p. 33)
• 89. Aloe ferox. Lam. (Cape aloes) (pp. 40–41)
• 91. Tulbaghia alliacea. Thbg. (wild garlic) (pp. 41–42)