images from the Badianus codex by Martin de la Cruz and Juan Badiano, around 1552.
"The De la Cruz-Badiano Codex is a herbal medicine treatise, written in the year 1552 in the School for Indians of Santiago Tlatelolco, in the early Colonial period. The conception of the book combines both the European and Mexica cosmovision: it contains the descriptions and diagnosis of different illnesses, with the cures, recipes based in the use of Mexican flora, fauna and minerals. [...] The difference between this document and others produced to satisfy the need of understanding the plants of the New World and its uses is that two Indians created and signed it. The manuscript, also named Libellus de medicinalibus indorum herbis (Opuscule of the Indians medicinal herbs), compiles antique indigenous medical practices and depictions of Mexican plants. The authors were Martin de la Cruz, a traditional native physician and Juan Badiano, who translated it to Latin, a professor educated at the College of Santa Cruz for sons of Indian noblemen." (description from this paper).
