Benedetto Rinio

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Benedetto Rinio

fl. c. 1410

Italian herbalist who compiled one of the most well-known herbal encyclopedias of the era. Rinio's Liber de simplicibus, published in Venice in 1410, contained 440 illustrations by Venetian artist Andrea Amadio. The book discussed 450 domestic and 111 foreign varieties of herb, and included each plant's name in Latin, Greek, German, Arabic, several dialects of Italian, and Slavonic. Also included were notes on the best seasons for gathering a particular herb, and the parts of the plant most useful for medicinal purposes.