Matthias de L'ObelDied 3 Mar 1616 (born 1538).French physician and botanist whose Stirpium adversaria nova (1570; written in collaboration with Pierre Pena) was a milestone in modern botany, a collection of notes and data on 1,300 plants that he had observed and gathered in France and England. In this book, he argued that botany and medicine must be based on thorough, exact observation. L'Obel divided plants according to the form of their leaves. His two professions were closed related, as most medicines derived from plants. Thus, l'Obel managed several gardens of herbs, and wrote on them. The popular garden perennial Lobelia was named by Linneaus for him. (De l'Obel is French for "of the white poplar" and his family coat of arms was a poplar leaf.) |
