Bernardo de Cienfuegos and his contribution to botany in the 17th century

Abstract

The 17th century represented a parenthesis in Spain's scientific development at an institutional level although learning was preserved and transmitted to the incoming generations by means of individual personalities. Bernardo de Cienfuegos, a physician and botanist, wrote his works in the first half of the 17th century. These amount to seven hand-written bound volumes that are kept at the Spanish National Library and contain some 1,000 drawings of plants, most of them in colour. They actually are a monumental work of recopilation that gather a great number of original data about plants and their application, especially in the realm of medicine.