"For centuries, botany has been closely linked to medicine, because plants provide the raw materials for many lotions and drugs. For example, , one of the most widely used drugs in the world, was originally derived from the bark of a tree, after the bark had been known for centuries to have anti-inflammatory properties. s describing curative plants enabled knowledge to pass from one generation to the next, although many of the earliest books would have been of little use as s. The ... shows how far illustrations could deviate, delightfully, from the text, and many plants described in classical scholarship are not found beyond the Mediterranean. Around the end of the 14th century artists began to make new, fresh, and direct observations from life. Especially fine examples are seen among the pages of the Carrara Herbal."