[A contribution to the development of the systematology of Lilium convallium].
While Gabriel von Lebenstein was listing the monography Lilium convallium among 41 prescriptions, but using terms like water of thistle or water of fennel for his other mongraphies all the time, he applied referring to Lilium conual[l]ium a binary nomenclature as a first source in his treatise 'Von den gebrannten Wäissem'. That can be regarded as a historical milestone which characterizes temporarily the end of a development that, starting at the botanical characterization of the white lily, identified related genera as Convallaria as Lilium plants at first and assigned Convallaria to the species Lilium without any distinction. Nevertheless lily of the vally wasn't listed by Willem Daems 'Semantische Untersuchungen zum Fachwortschatz hoch- und spätmittelalterlicher Drogenkunde' which emphasizes the importance of Gabriel whom Daems obviously didn't take into consideration like other dialect texts of medical specialist prose. The difficulty of systematical classifying becomes recognizable by determining the blue, white, and yellow described ephemeron of ancient world that Leonhart Fuchs described by the words Lilium convallium about 1500 years later. The discussion about ancient ephemeron in early modern era indicates two lines of traditions, tradition of Strassburg and Basel, unlike line of Strassburg Basel members differenciated between a lethal and non-lethal form following Dioskurides. The illustration of non-lethal form and treating ephemeron as equivalent with Digitalis that you can find in some herbals attests the fact that same effects of Convallaria and Digitalis were recognized. The Ephemerum non venenosum of Dioskurides must be less interpreted as a species of Iris or Polygonatum than a species of convallaria with a digitaloid effect.
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D001901:Botany / Q000266:history*; D002965:Classification; D031405:Convallaria / Q000145:classification*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D019668:Liliaceae / Q000145:classification; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000145:classification*