Adam Lonicer, Adam Lonitzer or Adamus Lonicerus (10 October 1528 – 29 May 1586) was a German botanist, noted for his 1557 revised version of

Eucharius Rösslin Eucharius Rösslin (Roslin, Rößlin), sometimes known as Eucharius Rhodion, (c. 1470 – 1526) was a German physician who in 1513 authored a book about childbirth called ''Der Rosengarten'' (The Rose Garden), which became a standard medical t ...

herbal A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A herbal m ...

. Lonicer was born in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

, the son of a theologian and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

. He studied at Marburg and the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...

, and obtained his Magister degree at sixteen years of age. He became professor of Mathematics at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

in 1553 and Doctor of Medicine in 1554, becoming the

city physician City physician (German: ; , , from Latin ) was a historical title in the Late Middle Ages for a physician appointed by the city council. The city physician was responsible for the health of the population, particularly the poor, and the sanitary ...

() in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. His true interest though was herbs and the study of botany. His first important work on herbs, the ''Kräuterbuch'', was published in 1557, a large part dealing with

distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

. Lonicer acknowledged his sources for the book, crediting

Jean Ruelle Jean Ruel (1474 – 24 September 1537), also known as Jean Ruelle or Ioannes Ruellius in its Latinised form, was a French physician and botanist noted for the 1536 publication in Paris of ''De Natura Stirpium'', a Renaissance treatise on botany. ...

Valerius Cordus Valerius Cordus (18 February 1515 – 25 September 1544) was a German physician, botanist and pharmacologist who authored the first pharmacopoeia North of the Alps and one of the most celebrated herbals in history. He is also widely credited wit ...

Pietro Andrea Mattioli Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli (; 12 March 1501 – ) was a doctor and naturalist born in Siena. Biography He received his MD at the University of Padua in 1523, and subsequently practiced the profession in Siena, Rome, Trento and Gorizia ...

, Hieronymus Braunschweig and

Conrad Gessner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

. Lonicer married Magdalena Egenolff, the daughter of his Frankfurt publisher, Christian Egenolff. Christian Egenolff died in 1555, and Lonicer became a director of the firm, publishing no fewer than four editions of the ''Kräuterbuch'' between 1557 and 1577. He died at

. The genus ''

Lonicera Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

'' in the family

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America an ...

is named in his honour.

External links

* Adam Lonicer
''Kräuter-Buch'', 1703 edition
* Adam Lonicer
Digital edition ''Vollständiges Kräuterbuch oder das Buch über alle drey Reiche der Natur'' 1783
by the University and State Library Düsseldorf * *
ArteOccidentale

Smithsonian Institution Libraries

References

Image:Adam Lonicer01.jpg Image:Adam Lonicer03.jpg Image:Adam Lonicer06.jpg 16th-century German botanists German botanical writers 16th-century German mathematicians Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni 1528 births 1586 deaths German male non-fiction writers 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers {{Germany-botanist-stub