Here is a collection of texts and writings on the topic of the Apothecary and Their duties and trade, copied from various sources.
Currently, this volume compiles:

Saladin Ferro von Ascoli
Compendium aromatariorum Saladini:
A Compendium for Apothecaries, around 1450

[5.0] The fifth part, on collecting herbs, flowers, and seeds and roots.

[5.1.1] If it is asked in which season apothecaries should collect the flowers of plants, seeds, and roots, where they must be dried, and in which season waters must be distilled, the answer is in the spring, that is, in the months of April and May, first herbs and then flowers should be collected. Seeds should be collected in summer, that is, in the months of June and July, because that is when they are ripe.

[5.1.2] Roots should be collected in the autumn, because then the leaves and seeds are fallen or dried, and all the virtue of the herb is in the roots. In addition, herbs must be dried in the shade and seeds dried slowly in the sun. There are differences among roots, because some must be dried in the sun, for example, very large, thick roots, because they have a dense substance, and these include the root of bryony and of rhapontic, of birthwort, gentian, mandrake, and the like; but the root of lily,

parsley, celery, fennel, avens, asarabacca, and other similar roots, which are of a lighter substance, must be dried in the shade.

[5.1.3] All of these, that is, herbs, flowers, seeds, and roots, must not be put away for storage unless they are dried in the proper manner and time; otherwise they will rot. And they must be stored so they are not in smoke or sun, or in a moist or dusty place, because they would rot and lose their virtue. Herbs must be preserved in linen bags; seeds and flowers and roots in boxes, and each item should be preserved separately.

[5.2.1] Another doctrine. It should also be noted that according to the doctrine of Arnaldus de Villanova in his book of simples, in order for herbs, flowers, roots, and seeds to have their full virtues and properties for curing diseases, they must be collected according to various signs of the zodiac. Some signs are mobile, like Aries, Cancer, Leo, and Capricorn, and under these mobile signs purgative herbs, juices, seeds, and roots should be collected in order for them to work better

and more quickly. Examples of these are such herbs as olive spurge, senna, and laurel; safflower seed and laurel seed; juices of scammony, iris, and wild cucumber; such roots as turpeth, sun spurge, rhubarb, and similar purgative herbs.

[5.2.2] Other signs, that is, four others, are stable and fixed, and they are Scorpius, Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius. Under these signs styptic and constrictive herbs, juices, roots, and seeds should be collected, in order for them to work better against the fl ux and against dysentery and vomiting. These include such herbs as plantain, myrtle, and ferns; juices like quince juice and the juice of acacia and of myrtle; roots like those of ferns; styptic seeds on the order of coriander, myrtle seeds, rose seeds, etc., and fruits like those from the service tree, and quince, pomegranates, pears, medlar, sumac, and galls.

[5.2.3] Other simples are under the remaining four signs of the zodiac, which are medium, that is, neither fixed nor mobile but in between,

and they are Virgo, Sagittarius, Gemini, and Pisces, under which herbs, roots, and seeds that are neither solutive nor styptic should be collected. These include fennel, celery, southernwood, mugwort, mint, and their seeds.

[5.3.1] Another doctrine. But because this doctrine is too abstract for apothecaries it should be left to wise doctors of medicine who are obliged to have knowledge of astrology and take notice of it, because otherwise they would have difficulty curing their patients.

[5.3.2] It is best that these things be collected in clear, serene weather, when it is not windy, and it is best that they only be collected at the height of their goodness and maturity and in their proper season, not when they are old and consumed by some disease. Herbs collected in rugged, mountainous lands have stronger virtue than those that are collected in valleys and deep soil and gardens, and it is best to choose, from among the most well-developed plants, those that are swollen with seed as they should be, for example, lavender, round-leaved mint, dittany, water chestnuts, hyssop, and the like.

[5.3.3] It is best that flowers be collected before they fall, among them, the flowers of privet, tormentil, violets, elder, and the like, but the time to collect fruits, for example, grapes, fi gs, dates, pears, apples, plums, and the like, is when they are good and ripe. Seeds must be collected when they begin to dry and fall, and before water falls on them and destroys them, and the time to collect roots and twigs and bark is when the leaves of the plant begin to fall.

[5.3.4] It is best that the juices of plants be pressed from their leaves and branches when they are tender, for example, yellow hornpoppy and houseleeks, juice of goat’s beard, wormwood and the like. It is best, when you wish to take its sap or juice, that a plant or tree is tapped while it is still alive in the ground, and not after it has been removed from the ground, for example, when you wish to make opium, officinal spurge, and the like.

[5.3.5] Generally, you should know that roots, leaves, and branches must not be dried until after soil and impurities are washed away from

them with water, and they should be dried in the shade where there is no moisture, and it is best that you store the flowers of medicinal herbs in wooden boxes, and the same for styptic herbs and roots. Seeds are stored in bags of leather for best preservation, according to Dioscorides.

[5.4.1] Another doctrine. Because the above doctrine is somewhat confusing for uneducated apothecaries, someone might ask in which month exactly each herb, flower, seed, and root must be collected. The correct response is in the month of March, because the middle of March is the beginning of spring, and the earth, which was bare of plants in the winter

because of the winds and snows and cold, begins to put forth fruit and dress itself in herbs and flowers. Collect, then, violets in this month, and make diani trochisks from them, that is, from violets, and make violet syrup, violet julep, violet conserve, and violet oil, and if you can extract juice from them, store it, and you can also distill violets and store the water for future use. You have to dry them in the

shade in this month and store them. Collect fumitory in the same month and make the greater and lesser syrups from it, and extract the juice and store it, although you can also make all these things from fumitory in the beginning of April. But in the beginning of this month mastic is collected until the end of the month of April. Collect squill according to custom and make vinegar of squills, lohoch of squills, and squillitic oxymel.

[5.4.2] The month of April. Collect eyebright and distill it, and also dry and store it, because it is very good for the eyes. Collect the flowers of borage and bugloss and make conserves from them, and dry and store them and distill them and make water of borage and of bugloss. Collect poplar buds and make the populeon ointment, which is good for inducing sleep in fevers and delirium. Collect mint, marjoram, lemon balm, yellow bugle, and asparagus, and store them. Collect flowers and make oil of irises. Collect melilot and make the plaster of melilot. Collect rosemary flowers and make dianthos and conserve with sugar, and dry them and store them for future use, and make

oil from them if you wish. Also collect hart’s tongue, wood betony, and maidenhair, and extract the water from them, and dry and store them as well. Also collect heartsease, that is, yellow violets, and make oil from them, which is called oil of heartsease. Collect shepherd’s purse and extract the water from it and dry it. And collect rock samphire and extract the water from it.

[5.4.3] The month of May. Collect red roses and distill them while fresh to make rose water and purify it in the sun, and extract juice from them and store it for future use, and make rose conserve and rhodosacchare from them, that is, rose sugar, and rhodomel or rose honey, and good rose oil prepared according to custom. Regarding this, note that rose oil may be made in two ways: first, from rose buds and oil omphacine, and this oil is more styptic and comfortative and cold; second, rose oil can be made from the oil of ripe olives, and this oil is more of an anodyne and mitigates pain, and it is not as cold as the first, and you should dry the roses and store them for future use, and also save their buds, that is, the little unbloomed

roses before they open, because they are more styptic and cordial, and also make diarrhodon trochisks from them. Also collect white, red, and black poppies in the same month, and store them for future use, and make opium in the same month, and make goat’s beard juice. Collect chamomile and make oil from it and dry the flowers and store them. Also collect the flowers of broom and make broom honey against scrofula, and also make distilled water from it for stones. Collect the flowers of mallow and make mallow honey from it; this is good for asthma and cough. Collect dill and make oil, and collect the flowering tops of henbane and dry them. Also collect the seed of shepherd’s purse and store it. Collect sage and distill and dry it, and store it for future use. According to some, you should also collect meadow saffron, but I think it is better to collect it in the month of August, and collect the gum of ivy, etc. Also collect manna in this month, in the east as well as in Calabria, because at this time this most precious dew falls from heaven.

[5.4.4] The month of June. Collect all the herbs that must be stored, among them, lemon balm, oregano, pennyroyal, lavender, maidenhair, valerian, southernwood, wormwood, horehound, meadow clary, St. John’s wort, wall germander, yellow bugle, summer savory, rosemary, the greater and lesser centaury, mugwort, agrimony, creeping tormentil, yarrow, betony, thyme, dodder of thyme, hyssop, and all the other usual herbs not used. Also, collect pomegranates and store them, and at the end of this month make aloe from the juice of the aloe plant. Make licorice juice from the root and store it for future use, but the roots themselves are collected and dried and stored in the month of August. Collect cumin and anise. In this month incense, juniper gum, ammoniacum, and opoponax are also collected, though some say that they are collected in the month of May. In this month scammony is also made, and it is the thickened juice from a type of bindweed, which is a type of spurge.

[5.4.5] The month of July. Collect laurel seed and make an electuary from the milky juice of spurge. Collect the juice of the wild cucumber,

save it, and make pills for dropsy from it. Collect cilantro and fenugreek seed, and broom seed, stavesacre seed, alexanders seed, parsley seed, celery and rue seed, henbane seed, stoneseed, turnip, nettle, arugula seed, and plantain seed. Collect the four lesser cold seeds, namely, escarole, endive, lettuce, and purslane, and the four greater cold seeds, namely, cucumber, serpent melon, muskmelon, and calabash. Also collect lovage seed and hemlock, wild parsnip, and caraway seed. Make acacia from wild plum juice at the end of this month, and dry it in the sun. Collect rose seed at the end of this month or at the end of August, and collect siseleos, which is the seed of laserwort, and watercress and rue seed.

[5.4.6] The month of August. Collect meadow saxifrage roots and licorice roots, sweet sedge, cyperus, and galangal roots, mandrake roots, briony roots, butcher’s broom roots, rhapontic and cassia roots, and pellitory roots. Collect dittany and tormentil and deadly nightshade roots. Collect gentian roots, sun spurge roots, long and round birthwort, turmeric roots, and collect elecampane roots and roots of the three

kinds of comfrey. Collect valerian roots, spignel roots, avens roots, cotton thistle roots, celery, parsley, fennel, asparagus and iris roots, etc. In this month, also collect peony roots and seeds. And in this month birdlime is made, and turpentine is made from green grains.

[5.4.7] The month of September. Collect chaste tree, that is, its seed, caper root, and both kinds of hellebore, that is, white and black. Collect hog’s fennel roots, collect hart’s tongue and spleenwort and maidenhair. Also collect fennel flowers and seeds and dry them, because then their seed is perfect.

[5.4.8] The month of October. Collect Italian honeysuckle, centaury, wormwood, and cyclamen.

[5.4.9] The month of November. Collect hart’s tongue, and according to others, collect sun spurge and olive spurge.

[5.4.10] The month of December. Collect laurel fruit and make oil of laurel and oil of mastic, and collect juniper berries and mandrake fruit.

[5.4.11] The month of January. Collect the fruit of butcher’s broom and sea holly roots and make conserve from them; collect citron rinds, and make conserve from them and store them.

[5.4.12] The month of February. Collect Venus’s navel and liverwort and lungwort, and begin to collect violets through the month of March, all as I said above.

[5.5] Also note that all distilled waters that are made of herbs must be made in the spring, that is, from the middle of March through the entire month of May. And after they are made they should sit in the sun for at least fi fteen days so they may be cleansed of smoke. But if you do not want them to taste like smoke in any way, distill them in two vessels, that is, by putting the still in a bain-Marie.

[5.6] If inexperienced apothecaries desire to be taught and to know of the infinite preparations of many simples and medicines, mineral and not mineral, common and uncommon, for example, how to wash, burn, roast, purify, and prepare types of salt, and about decoctions, and how to extract juices, and an almost infinite number of things, they should turn to the Liber Servitoris, which is very necessary for them and which they should study and read many times with thoughtfulness, because there they will fi nd an infi nite number of things that are not only useful but will bring them honor and glory.