Flora Sinensis

Natural history books about China

Flora Sinensis is one of the first European natural history books about China, published in Vienna in 1656.^[1] Its author, Michael Boym, was a Jesuit missionary from Poland (then the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth).^[2]

The book was the first description of an ecosystem of the Far East published in Europe. Boym underlined the medicinal properties of the Chinese plants. The book also included pleas for support of the Catholic Chinese emperor^[who?] and each page contained a chronogram pointing to the date of 1655, the date of coronation of Emperor Leopold I as the King of Hungary, as Boym wanted to gain support of that monarch for his mission.

Jackfruit
Mango
Drawing of, probably, the sugar-apple
Pepper
A squirrel (松鼠) chasing a green-haired turtle (绿毛龟)
Hippopotamus
Church of the East in China

References

^ Walravens, Hartmut (December 2011). "FLORA SINENSIS REVISITED". Monumenta Serica. 59 (1): 341–352. doi:10.1179/mon.2011.59.1.017. ISSN 0254-9948.
^ Bocci, Chiara; Ptak, Roderich (December 2011). "THE ANIMAL SECTION IN BOYM'S (1612–1659) FLORA SINENSIS : PORTENTOUS CREATURES, HEALING STONES, VENOMS, AND OTHER CURIOSITIES". Monumenta Serica. 59 (1): 353–381. doi:10.1179/mon.2011.59.1.018. ISSN 0254-9948.