Azad and Amghilan Trees
Al-Qazwini identifies about three hundred trees and herbs and gives instructions for using their leaves, fruits, and wood for many purposes, such as cures for numerous maladies, including colic, plague, toothaches, epilepsy, tuberculosis, gout, constipation, obesity, poisoning, insomnia, headache, jaundice, melancholia, leprosy, and even amnesia. On the upper right is the Azad, a tree native to northern Iran. Its leaves are poisonous to animals, but the noted Persian physician Ibn-Sina (Avicenna) says that if its leaves are mixed with honey, one can create a remedy for colic. The Amghilan on the lower right page is a large tree with numerous sharp thorns. According to Ibn-Sina, a vapor made with its leaves can make a nice perfume for the body. The Kitab Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, usually known as "The Cosmography" or "The Wonders of Creation," was compiled in the 13th century in what is now Iran or Iraq and is considered one of the most important natural history texts of the medieval Islamic world. The author Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud-al-Qazwini (1203-1283), known simply as al-Qazwini, was one of the most noted natural historians, geographers and encyclopedists of the period. At the very end, the scribe has written a colophon praising Allah again and stating that he finished copying this manuscript in 1537.
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