The Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) of Dioscorides annotated in codex Neapolitanus Graecus #1

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevancePedanius Dioscorides has been praised as the father of Pharmacy and his work Περί Ύλης Ιατρικής – De Materia Medica, served as the reference Pharmacy manual for almost twenty centuries. Though greatly celebrated among botanists of all ages׳ indisputable identification of numerous Dioscorides plants is still in quest. Present essay aspires to resolute the botanical status of the Umbelliferae (Apiacae) plants, through data extraction and recombination from a 7th century manuscript. Materials and methodsCodex Neapolitanus Graecus 1 (CN) is the fundamental study material. From this source were extracted data, both from text and figures, in relation to plant nomenclature, habitat, morphology and geographical distribution; consequently those data were translated into present botanical terminology and then recombined according to the Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands covering the area that Dioscorides was born and studied. Results, and conclusionsAll of the 40 CN plants indicated as Umbelliferae, presented a substantially documented identification. For 19 of them a novel combination was indicated and 4 of them proved new pharmaceutical plants. Applied methodology generated a documented correspondence between CN entries and contemporary Umbelliferae taxa nomenclature forming thus a promising new systematic tool for the study of relevant sources.