Ibn al-Baitar

Abu Muhammad ibn al - Baitar, and Diya ' al-Din Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn al - Baitar al - Malaqi (Arabic ضياء الدين أبو محمد عبدالله بن أحمد بن البيطار المالقي, DMG Diya ad - Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʾ ʿ Abd Allāh b. Aḥmad al - Baitar al - Mālaqī; . * around 1190 in Benalmádena, Malaga Province, † 1248 in Damascus ) was a spanish -Arab physician, botanist and pharmacologist.

Al - Baitar studied in Seville among others, Abu Bakr Ahmad at - Nabati and collected during this time plants. He immigrated in 1220 through North Africa to the Middle East from 1224 and lived in Asia Minor and Syria. Later he settled in Cairo, where he was appointed by the Sultan to the " chief botanist " of Egypt. In this office he was superintendent of pharmacies and drug stores. He undertook at this time of exploratory expeditions with his students.

Its main merit is the systematization of medical and pharmacological knowledge of the Arabs of the Middle Ages. He wrote several works. Most famous is the " Kitab al - gami ... " ( German about: The book containing the simple drugs and food).

In it, he not only names the names of medicinal plants, but also reports on the drug gained. It describes more than 1,400 agents from plants and recipes, as these are to be applied. His knowledge made ​​its way over the monasteries and schools of translation of the Middle Ages. This was al - Baitar throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, the supreme authority in botany.

Source

• Jahn: history of biology, range 2000