Anonymous 'Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis' (1648)

In 1648, an anonymous catalogue of the Garden, Catologus Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis, was published (note the typographical error in the title). Traditionally, the author is identified as Jacob Bobart the Elder, and the book is considered the first publication produced by the Garden. The Catologus's two, unannotated, alphabetical lists of names, Latin-English and English-Latin, comprise 1,368 polynomial names. No references to published literature are associated with the names.

Many of the names can be matched to modern plant names, through comparison with herbarium specimens, e.g., ‘Mandragora mas Mandrake’ (Mandragora officinarum), ‘Taxus Yew tree’ (Taxus baccata) and ‘Fritillaria varigata Checquer’d frittilarie’ (Fritillaria meleagris). However, in some cases the names are meaningless in modern terms, e.g., ‘Fungus albus White toadestoole’ and ‘Fungus niger Blacke toadestoole’.

Notwithstanding issues over placing precise modern identifications on the names listed, the Physic Garden in 1648 contained a diverse array of plants from Britain and parts of Europe. In six years, despite the professed desires of the University, Bobert the Elder had brought together a nucleus of plants that approached John Evelyn’s concept of a ‘Philosophico-Medical Garden’, rather than a collection of plants focused around medical training.