The Jujube Tree in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Case Study in the Methodology of Textual Archeobotany
Alain Touwaide
A medieval garden of a special type was the herbarius, that is, herb or medicinal plant garden, where plants used for therapeutic purposes were cultivated. Although archeological and documentary evidence this is rather scant, some information can be obtained from archives, literary sources, architectural plans. For instance, Capitulare de villis promulgated sometime around end eight century CE in Carolingian world – either by Charlemagne (747–814) Louis Pious (778–840) lists plants, including species, to grown gardens domains crown. The poem Liber cultura hortorum, most known under title Hortulus, written Walahfrid Strabo (808 809–849) describes might Abbey Reichenau Germany. Similarly, early ninth-century plan Saint Gall Switzerland shows location within monumental complex, gives names species several beds. However instructive these other sources be, they only offer insights on limited number cases, leaving many others dark.