Bem-Curini

Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691) Illustrating the plants of Malabar, south India, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus (1678-1703) is one of the most celebrated pre-Linnaean books. Published in Amsterdam by Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Draakenstein, colonial governor of Malabar. He employed local people to collect plants, learned Brahmins of Cochin to help with the text and three or four artists, two of them soldiers, to make the drawings. The drawings after these plants were by a missionary, Patar Matthew, a barefoot Carmelite. The plants are described in Malabarese, Latin, Sanskrit and Arabic. From, Hortus Malabaricus (meaning Garden of Malabar) is a comprehensive treatise that deals with the medicinal properties of the flora in the Indian state of Kerala.