The Names of Herbes

William Turner's The Names of Herbes, published in 1548, is a significant work in English botany. It was an expanded version of his earlier Libellus de re herbaria novus and was written in English to make botanical knowledge more accessible. The book included German and French synonyms and featured original observations, distinguishing it from earlier, derivative herbals. Turner, known as the "father of English botany," was a naturalist, botanist, and theologian who studied at Cambridge and traveled extensively in Europe, where he engaged with other naturalists and learned about botanical discoveries. His work, including A New Herball, aimed to widely disseminate practical botanical and medical knowledge to practitioners and apothecaries.1