Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen (Köhler’s Medicinal Plants), is a German herbal of medicinal plants. It came out in parts, and the first volume was completed in 1887. It was made as a illustrated guide to the official medicine books of many countries, including Germany, Austria, Britain, and the United States, with a focus on the plants most important to German pharmacists.
Who made it
Gustav Pabst edited the first 2 volumes, and Franz Eugen Köhler published the work in Gera. Many sources credit the text to Hermann Adolph Köhler (1834 to 1879), a chemist and physician who taught in Halle. Library catalogs often list the publisher instead, and the preface to volume 1 is signed only by “the editors.”
Volumes and plates
Volume 2 followed in 1890. Volume 3, prepared by Max Vogtherr, came out in 1898 with plants not pictured before, including the corn poppy and the coconut palm. The full set grew to 4 volumes and 305 plates. The plates are chromolithographs, drawn mainly by Walther Müller, C.F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther.
How a plate is built
A typical plate shows a flowering branch or whole plant along with numbered details. The lemon plate, for example, shows a branch with flowers and fruit at natural size, then an enlarged flower, the ovary cut open, pollen, the fruit in cross section, and the seeds.
Köhler plates in our collection
These pieces from the book are part of our botanical art collection:
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