Renaissance Revolutionary: Lorenz Scholz’s Medical Garden Legacy

Title Page of Aphorismorum Medicinalium by Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. September 20, 1552 Dearest garden enthusiasts, today we mark the birth of a true Renaissance rebel – Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau, who dared to grow “deadly” potatoes in his garden while fighting plague…

Read More

William Woodville: Physician, Botanist, and Early Vaccine Advocate

William Woodville (1752-1805), an English physician and botanist.

The Kings Cross Physician March 26, 1805 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English physician and botanist William Woodville. William was an early adopter of the botanist and physician Edward Jenner’s work on vaccines. So he became an outspoken advocate of vaccination – even trying to create his own smallpox vaccine. In…

Read More

William Barton: Navy Surgeon and Medical Botanist of Early America

William Paul Crillon Barton (1786-1856)

Medical Botany of the United States November 17, 1786  Today is the birthday of the lawyer and medical botanist William Barton. William’s uncle was 18th-century preeminent medical botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, from whom he learned his passion for botany. In 1809 William enlisted in the Navy as a Surgeon and immediately fought to improve his…

Read More