Of or relating to herbs.
A book describing the medicinal properties of plants, often including illustrations. The earliest herbals are described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century BC; one of the earliest surviving is by Dioscorides (1st century AD). The earliest printed herbal dates from 1477.
The golden age of the herbal was the 16th century; the three most famous herbals of the age were produced in Germany by Otto Brunfels Herbarum Vivae Eicones 1530–36, Jerome Bock 1539, and Leonhart Fuchs 1542. The most famous English herbal is by John Gerard 1597; that of Nicholas Culpeper dates from 1652. Herbals were increasingly replaced by botanical guides during the 18th century.

A book about plants especially with reference to their medicinal properties.