De viribus herbarum carmen has been attributed to Macer Floridus, a pseudonym of Odo of Meung, who lived in the Loire area of France towards the end of the eleventh century. Macer's unillustrated text described the medicinal properties of 77 herbs and was written in Latin hexameter, a poetic verse form that was most likely employed as a mnemonic device for physicians, apothecaries and others.

"The text titled De Viribus Herbarum (On properties of plants) has been traditionally attributed to Odo de Meung (Odo Magdunensis), who is believed to have lived during the first half of the 11th century and was from Meung on the Loire. Recent research has shown, however, that the De Viribus Herbarum was probably written in an earlier version, perhaps during the tenth century in Germany. The text was further expanded, including new data from the translation of Arabic texts into Latin in Salerno from the end of the 11th century onward. If this is the case, this text is good evidence of the continuity of scientific activity in the Middle Ages: its most ancient parts come from a period when there was a revival of interest in botany and a recovery of the classical tradition, while the most recent additions integrate the contribution of the Arabic world" (Hunt Botanical Library website, accessed 2009).

ISTC no. im00001000. Digital facsimile of the unillustrated first edition from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The first edition of this work illustrated with woodcuts appears to be a Geneva edition printed circa 1500: ISTC No.: im00005000.

"Odo de Meung’s De Viribus Herbarum was one of the most widely known pieces of Fachliteratur in the latter part of Middle English, corroborated on account of the number of translations hitherto preserved in the different European vernacular languages such as French, German and Danish. In Middle English, there are up to nine complete versions of Macer Floridus’ rendering, together with a number of fragmentary pieces. Still, Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 497 (ff. 1r-92r) is the only English version of the text which remains so far unedited. The present edition offers the diplomatic transcription of MS Hunter 497, also accompanied by a glossary, notes and introduction. The latter has been conceived as a state of the art of the Hunterian witness, containing the textual transmission of the text, a codicological/palaeographic description together with a comprehensive analysis of its linguistic provenance and scribal practices" (Publisher).