Herbal remedies were passed down through word of mouth and sometimes books. What were these books called?

• A. Almanacs
• B. Chronicles
• C. Herbals
• D. Treatises

Answer: (C)

Herbals are the books that collected information about plants and their medicinal uses. In the history of medicine, much knowledge about how herbs could treat illness circulated first by word of mouth and later in written form as herbals. They described each plant—what it looked like, where it grew, and what it could treat—so practitioners could reference and apply remedies. The term comes from the Latin herbarius, and famous examples include early works like De Materia Medica and later English herbals such as Gerard’s Herball and Culpeper’s Herbal.

Almanacs deal with calendars and weather, chronicles recount events in order, and treatises are broad scholarly writings on a topic. None of those focus specifically on medicinal plants and their uses the way herbals do, which is why this is the best fit.