The healing plants of the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth in the works of Jean-Emmanuel Gilibert (1741–1814) – a few reflections on phytotherapy in Exercitia Phytologica

J.-E. Gilibert spent eight years (1775–1783), in the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth. In Grodno, he created a medical school and the first natural history cabinet, botanical gardens in Horodnica and Vilnius, he was a professor of botany, pharmacy and natural history in Vilnius (1781). Supporter of the classification system of Carl Linnaeus, Gilibert was the author of the first of Lithuanian flora Flora Lituanica Inchoata and some others publications dedicated to Lithuanian plants. Gilibert was not only a taxonomist and florist but also the author of a biogeographic (comparison of Lithuanian and Lyon vegetation) or ecological concepts (disparition and the appearance of species or the concept of the primary forest). In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth he was also interested with diseases and organization of healthcare. In 1790 he published in Lyon Exercita Phytologica. J.-E. Gilibert gave a list of 40 species of Lithuanian medicinal plants. The information provided by J.-E. Gilibert is undoubtedly an interesting contribution for the history of medicinal plants in the first Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The article presents and analyzes the list of given species.

J.-E. Gilibert spent eight years (1775–1783), in the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth. In Grodno, he created a medical school and the first natural history cabinet, botanical gardens in Horodnica and Vilnius, he was a professor of botany, pharmacy and natural history in Vilnius (1781). Supporter of the classification system of Carl Linnaeus, Gilibert was the author of the first of Lithuanian flora Flora Lituanica Inchoata and some others publications dedicated to Lithuanian plants. Gilibert was not only a taxonomist and florist but also the author of a biogeographic (comparison of Lithuanian and Lyon vegetation) or ecological concepts (disparition and the appearance of species or the concept of the primary forest). In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth he was also interested with diseases and organization of healthcare. In 1790 he published in Lyon Exercita Phytologica. J.-E. Gilibert gave a list of 40 species of Lithuanian medicinal plants. The information provided by J.-E. Gilibert is undoubtedly an interesting contribution for the history of medicinal plants in the first Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The article presents and analyzes the list of given species.