Look upphysic garden in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Planned space for growing medicinal plants
TheChelsea Physic Garden, founded in London in 1673 as the "Garden of the Society of Apothecaries" and originally situated atWestminster.[1] The plants at Westminster were moved toChelsea in 1676.[2]Great Gate of the Physic Garden, OxfordPetersfield Physic Garden
Modern botanical gardens were preceded by medieval physic gardens, oftenmonastic gardens, that existed by 800 at least.[2] Gardens of this time included various sections including one formedicinal plants called theherbularis orhortus medicus.[3]Pope Nicholas V set aside part of the Vatican grounds in 1447 for a garden of medicinal plants that were used to promote the teaching of botany, and this was a forerunner to the academic botanical gardens atPadua andPisa established in the 1540s.[4] Certainly the founding of many early botanic gardens was instigated by members of the medical profession.[3]
The naturalistWilliam Turner established physic gardens atCologne,Wells, andKew; he also wrote toLord Burleigh recommending that a physic garden be established atCambridge University with himself at its head. The 1597Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes by herbalistJohn Gerard was said to be thecatalogue raisonné of physic gardens, both public and private, which were instituted throughout Europe.[5] It listed 1,030 plants found in his physic garden atHolborn, and was the first such catalogue printed.[1]
^abAmerican Medical Association; HighWire Press (10 July 1915)."A History of Botanic Gardens".JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.65 (2) (Public domain ed.). American Medical Association.: 170–.doi:10.1001/jama.1915.02580020036016. Retrieved7 January 2012.
