Leonhart Fuchs’ De Historia Stirpium

German physician and botanist, Leonhart Fuchs published De Historia Stirpium (On the History of Plants) in 1543. The celebrated and much reprinted work was a foundation of modern botany. Fuchs’ herbal tome was illustrated with full page woodcut illustrations. Unusually for that time, it gave credit to the artisans who had drawn the plants, cut the wooden blocks, and colored the finished plates. The artists’ self-portraits appeared on the final leaf. The herbal reference described and illustrated 400 native German and 100 foreign plants, both wild and domestic, and featured detailed  discussions of their respective medical uses. Included were the first record of New World plants like maize, cactus, and tobacco.