Over forty editions of the English apothecary Nicholas Culpeper's popular English Physician have been published since 1653, rendering it one of the most popular herbals ever in print. The Academy Library has many editions of this richly-detailed catalog of medicinal plants, including this expanded, hand-colored edition from 1818. Culpeper tells us that star thistle (upper left) grows wild in the fields around London in many places, and that the seeds and roots are efficacious as diuretics (at Hogwarts the plant is mentioned as a common Potions ingredient). Mulpepper's Apothecary in Diagon Alley provided many a wizard with potion ingredients; the shop's name is a nod to one of the most popular keepers of pharmaceutical knowledge in British history.
