De historia stirpivm commentarii insignes, maximis impensis et vigiliis elaborati, adiectis earvndem vivis plvsqvam quingentis imaginibus, nunquam antea ad naturae imitationem artificiosius effictis & expressis
Leonhart Fuchs's 1542 Latin herbal, printed in Basel, is a scholarly botanical commentary on plants with over five hundred woodcut figures for physicians and naturalists. The pictures are fine-line woodcuts of umbelliferous plants with feathery divided leaves, flower heads, and root structures, showing how botanical illustration reduced complex growth to clean contour and hatching that a designer could adapt for pattern or line work.
