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Ibn Al-Baytar: Kitab al-Jami'li-mufrdat al- adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah (Collection of simple medicines) (d1249) Spanish Muslim doctor.
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Diya Al-Din Abu Muhammad Abdllah Ibn Ahmad al-Malaqi, commonly known as Ibn al-Baytar (1197–1248 AD) was an Andalusian, Arab pharmacist, botanist, physician and scientist. He  was born in the city of Malaga in Andalusia at the end of the twelfth century. In 1219, Ibn al-Bayṭar left Malaga, travelling to the coast of North Africa and as far as Anatolia, to collect plants. In 1227 he followed his patron to Damascus where he died in 1249. His Collection of simple medicines is a pharmacopoeia (pharmaceutical encyclopedia) listing 1400 plants, foods, and drugs, and their uses. It is organized alphabetically by the name of the useful plant. Lots of plants and other stuff from East Africa gets treated.

Taken from; Gabriel Ferrand; Relations des voyages et textes geographiques...
                   Leclerc, Lucien: Traité des Simples par Ibn el-Beïthar, Notices et Extraits des manuscrits de la                                         Bibliothèque nationale tome xxii - xxv et xxvi.  

                    Alwaraq
Also called Ibn Beithar

 

9 Abnous, ebony.

Dioscorides (1), I, 129. The most active ebony is that of Abyssinia. It is black and veinless, with a polish similar to that of the worked horn. If we break it, it is compact. He stings and tightens the tongue. Thrown on coals, it spreads a pleasant odor, without smoke. In the fresh state, because of its greasy consistency, it ignites as soon as it approaches the fire. Rubbed on a whetstone, it takes on a ruby color. There is a species that comes from India and has white and red veins. This species is similarly compact, but the first is preferable to it. There are people who take branches of thorny trees and a tree called sisama, and sell them for ebony. There is in fact a resemblance, but it can be distinguished from it, in that the branches are divided into purple fragments, that they do not bite the tongue, and that, projected on fire, they do not spread odour. - Galen (2), book VI. This tree is one of those which, rubbed with water, dissolve there, as well as some stones dissolve in vinegar. The resulting juice has warming, subtilizing and detersive properties. That's why some people claim that it removes particles that can obscure the iris. It is still included in other preparations used against the old ulcers of the eye, chronic inflammations and pustules of natural blisters. - Dioscorides (1). Ebony is a powerful detergent used against the obscuration of sight. It is also used against chronic influx of mood in the eye and against ulcers called phlyctis. If available after working it with a sharpening stone, and which is triturated over eye drops, they become more efficient. We also prepare eye drops in the following way: we take from its filings or sawdust and we macerate it for a day and a night in Chio wine, then triturate carefully. There are people who grind before dissolving; they then act as we have reported. Others, at the expense of wine, use water. The ebony is also burned in a clay vase until it is reduced to charcoal, then washed in the manner of burnt lead, and it is successfully used against dry ophthalmia and itching of the eye. - Ibn Massa. Ebony is excellent against tearing and pustules of the free edge of the eyelids. He is hot to the third degree. It is useful against chronic moods and swelling of the stomach. Its sawdust makes the eyelashes grow. - Avicenna (3). It is claimed that, notwithstanding its heat, it extinguishes that of blood. According to El-Khuz, he breaks the stones of the kidneys. Burned and washed, it is useful against scabies of the eye. - The book El-Minhadj. Reduced to powder, it is useful against burns. - Sofian the Andalusians. It strengthens the eye and the view. Its sawdust, triturated with care and administered internally against malignant ulcers, is beneficial and pushes them to cicatrisation.

 

252 Badescan, Spartium junceum.

One still writes badeskan and badascan - Ibn Serapion. It is said to be a diuretic drug derived from Azerbaidjan. - Razes. It is a plant that the Copts use to make bracelets. It is a substitute of the helictere. - El-Massoudi. It is hot and dry, laxative and resolving. It is suitable for phlegmatic and lymphatic matters. - Razes. Failing to get this plant, it is replaced by its weight and a half of doronic and equal part of cumin of Kerman.

(Note: Avicenna says the inhabitants of Zanguebar are making bracelets of it.)

 

314 Bakkam, Coesalpinia sappan.

Abu Hanifa (4). That is, the wood of a large tree that has leaves similar to those of the green almond tree. Its stem and its twigs are red. It grows in India and Zanguebar. Its decoction is used as a dye. - Ibn Rodhouan. It heals wounds and stops haemorrhages, regardless of where. It dries the ulcers. - Ibn Hassan. It is said that the powder of its root, taken at the dose of five drachmas, is mortal.

 

397 Tambol, Betel

…….It is wrong to think that betel leaves are the same as the leaves available to us today, which are like bay leaves in shape and aroma, and which herbalists in Basra call waraq al-Qumari (=qat?)(5) because they are brought from a country called Qumr.

 

533 Djouz ez-zendj (9), Sterculia.

El-Ghafeky. It is a fruit that reaches the volume of an apple, a little elongated, angular, wrinkled, containing a seed of the volume of the small cardamom, flattened, of red color, of a pungent taste approaching that of the galangal, of an aromatic odor. It is brought from the desert of the Berber countries. Triturated and taken with the dose of a danek, it is hot and is used against the windy colics. It is suitable for the stomach, and is used in hot preparations.

 

535 Djouz and Cherc, Amomum granum Paradisi.

El-Ghafeky. It is the Abyssinian nut. It is a fruit of the volume of the edible nut, except that it is a little longer, with the ends thinned, almost like a small asphodel root. Its color is red and turns slightly black. Its flavor is that of ginger and even more pungent. Its smell is aromatic. He comes from Sudan. It is used among the heating substances. It is brought from the land of the Berbers. - The Sherif. I saw this nut in extreme Maghreb, where it comes from the land of Negroes. It has the volume of a big nut, the round form, an outer bark which empties while drying out. Under this envelope is a core without hardness, all the hardness being in the envelope. Internally, it contains many seeds all similar to grape seeds, reddish and ashy color. It is hot and dry in the third degree. If one gives one mithkal (10) in warm water, it acts as an emmenagogue and abortifacient and calm, the pains of the bladder. An oil is prepared which is useful against the pain of the hips, knees and back. Some doctors in the Maghreb claim that its decoction breaks the calculations. Such is the way of preparing the oil: We take an ounce of nuts which we pulverize, and pour over a pound and a half of water. Boil until the water is reduced to eight ounces, then it is decanted. Over this water, pour six ounces of oil and boil until the water evaporates and that only the oil remains. It is conserved for use.

 

838 Khir bou, Cardamom.

Avicenna (3). It is a small seed like the kakolla that is brought from Sofala. It is hot and dry in the third degree. Its properties are those of clove. It is detersive and subtle, more subtle than kakolla. It is suitable for cold stomach and liver. It is better than kakolla. It stops vomiting.

 

1018 Rawend, Rhubarb.(6)

Dioscorides (1), II, 2. Rhubarb is found in the countries above the Bosphorus, from where it is brought to us. It is a black root, like that of the great centaury, otherwise it is smaller and internally bloodcolored. It is odorless, soft and a little light. The best is the one that is not eaten by worms, which has a little viscosity and a slight astringency, which, once chewed, gives a yellow and saffron color .......................

- Ibn-Djomai in his treatise on rhubarb. The name rhubarb, in our day, is given to four kinds, including three true rhubarb, which are alike by external characters and analogous by properties and actions; the fourth has in common with them the name, while being different in properties and characters. So there are three kinds of true rhubarb. Of these three kinds, two are known as old rhubarb, and the third under the name of new rhubarb. Ancient rhubarb, one called China rhubarb and the other rhubarb Zendj. The new rhubarb is what is known as rhubarb of the Turks and rhubarb of the Persians. As for the fourth species, it is the rhubarb of Syria. Under the name of ancient rhubarb, two species were included: one, mentioned by Dioscorides (1) in his book III, and by Galen (2) in his chapter on the properties of simple drugs; and we will show just now that this is precisely what we recognize ourselves under this name; the other, which is mentioned by Galen in Chapter 1 of his Treaty of the Andidotes, which is also known as the Book of Electuaries. This one, I did not see it and I did not find anyone who could tell me to have observed it, if it is not a man of the East who frequented the drug market of Cairo since several years and who assured me that he possessed some; and the sample he presented to me appeared to me an extract in the form of Chinese rhubarb tablets .......................

As for rhubarb known as zenjy, it also comes from China; it was named zendjy because of its black color and not for its provenance. It resembles the species of China, of which we have spoken, by the form and volume of its fragments, and by its viscosity. It differs from the point of view of consistency, lightness and color. In fact, the one we are talking about is heavy, compact and difficult to chew and break, very smooth, black, in the form of fragments like black horns, ebony or sacem wood. It also gets eaten and is gnawed away quickly. The best is the one that is not eaten from and that is neither too heavy nor too compact ...........................

In the same way rhubarb takes the name of Rhubarb of Persia. It resembles the so-called Chinese species by the shape and volume of the fragments, the viscosity, the flavor, the coloring power and the lightness. However, the resemblance is not complete, and it holds the middle between the sorts of Zendj and of China ........................

Although there are three species of rhubarb, namely those of China, Zendj, and Persia, as they resemble each other in their actions, and are similar in their properties, the differences which distinguish them are only a little bit more or less of them, and that, on the other hand, the rhubarb of Syria has characters on all points exclusive, I thought I should treat rhubarb generally .................................

As to the species of Zendj, it is inferior in all respects to the species of China. It is used whenever it is on hand, unless it is a question of obtaining more purgation rather than fortifying the internal organs, and that an increase of heat is not necessary without inconvenience: in this case, the species of Turkey is preferable ...............

 

1108 Zerafa, Giraffe.

Its flesh is coarse and gives splenetic juices. 

 

1673 Forbioun, Euphorbia.

……………………….- El-Ghafeky. Some people who have seen it grow in their country report that there are two species. This plant is found especially in the land of the Berbers; it is very abundant in the mountain of Deren, (Atlas), and the Berbers give it the name of tahout. It consists of branches similar to lettuce-like concretes, white, ripe and filled with milky juice. Around this plant, there is no vegetation. The other plant, especially from the Sudan, is called Arend in Berber. It is a thorny plant with many branches; it sits on the surface of the earth and takes a lot of development. Its prickles are very delicate and its leaves resemble those of silibich (silybum?). Its milky juice is very abundant. I think this species is what I know as Negro's milk ................

 

1698 Folfel es Sudan (black pepper),

Ibn Ouafed. It is given in Berber the name of harmi.

It is a seed that looks like grass, as well as its pod. She is black and acrid like pepper. She comes from the land of Negroes. It is used against painful and loose teeth.

 

1714 Fil, Elephant.

It is a known animal. His canine teeth are ivory. - Dioscorides (1), Book II. The teeth of the elephant, graved, are astringent. - El Cherif. If you take ivory filings, every day the value of two drachmas with honey, it is excellent for the memory. If a sterile woman takes seven days in a row, every day two drachmas with honey, and then she approaches her husband, she will conceive. If we take some of this filth, mix it with a great deal of iron filings, and triturate it, and spread the whole thing over the hemorrhoids, we'll be fine. - El-Tabery. If a piece of elephant's tooth is hung from a child's neck, it is saved from the plague of children. - El Basry. Elephant droppings, carried with honey in suppository, make a woman sterile forever. - Other. Used in fumigations, it cures chronic fevers. Burned and used on wet moths, she heals them. The fumigations of elephant droppings drive away the bugs and, if we continue, these insects leave and do not return. - Properties of ibn Zohr. If one fumigates on a vine, a seedling, a tree, with elephant bones, the worms will not approach this place. If you attach to an ox, in a flap of black cloth, ivory, that is to say an elephant tusk, it will be preserved against the plague. If ivory filings are administered, for the value of ten drachmas, with a decoction of mountain pigeon or Persian savory, for several days in a row, will cure the affected subject of leprosy nodosa, and it will be sheltered from a recurrence. If a piece of ivory is placed on a part of the body where there is a broken bone, the ivory will attract this fragment and facilitate its outcome.

 

1800 Qassab es-sokkar, Sugar cane.

Abu Hanifa (4). There are several species of sugarcane. There are some white, yellow and black. We do not take black juice. These the last are so big that both hands cannot envelop them. White and yellow are available. The juice obtained is named honey cane. The best cane is the one that comes from Zanguebar and which is yellow as a lemon. The qand, is cane juice from which sugar is obtained. When we put it in a flour or some other mixture, it is said that it is candy, as they say it is honeyed.

- Ed-Dimachky. Sugarcane is attenuating and suitable for the body. It is helpful against chest, lung and throat irritations it detects the subtle moods. It is diuretic and swells you, when taken after the meal. The sugar cane relaxes the belly. It can be used to excite vomiting if you take hot water and one tickles the uvula with a long feather dipped in sesame oil; - Mansoury. It is of a temperate heat. It is diuretic and calm the ardor that accompanies the emission of urine. It is useful against coughing. - Ishak Ibn Amran. It calms the heat of the stomach by its action moisturizing and attenuating. It purifies the bladder.

 

1868 Kafour, Camphor.

Ibn Ouafed. El Mas'oudi reports that it is found in the country of Qissour, which was part of the island of Ceylon, where the camphor called Qissoury. In years when there is much thunder, thunderstorms, heavy rains, tremors, and earthquakes, camphor is very abundant; but if these phenomena do not occur, it becomes rare. It is in the mountains of the islands of India and China that we find the camphor tree ........................... ..

- Ishak ibn Amran. Camphor is brought from Sofala and the country of Qala, Raih (or Zanj)(7), and Herendj(8) . But Herendj is little China, and that's where we export the most. Camphor is the gum of a tree from this country. He is red and brilliant; its wood is white and soft, turning black. Camphor is in the gaps that exist all along its trunk. The best is the Ridhy, which is natural, red and shiny. It is submitted to sublimation and becomes white………………….

 

1899 Kohl es' Sudan. (eye drops of negroes)

It is the black seed known as bechma and techmizedj. It was discussed at the letter bd