As far as I know, the most authoritative study on this tradition is “Il Giardino Magico degli Alchimisti” by Vera Segre Rutz. She calls these manuscripts “erbari alchemici.” The University of Bologna titles ms. Aldrovandi 152 “erbario alchemico”. The English translation of this expression (“alchemical herbals”) is used by scholars like Minta Collins, Sachiko Kusukawa, Karen Reeds (in the book she co-edited with Givens and Touwaide).
“Alchemical herbals” is the name that has been attributed to this tradition in the academic world and I see no reason to adopt a different name. Since (as I said above) the name can mislead the newbie, I will try to remember writing “the so-called alchemical herbals”.
“Alchemical herbals” is the name that has been attributed to this tradition in the academic world and I see no reason to adopt a different name. Since (as I said above) the name can mislead the newbie, I will try to remember writing “the so-called alchemical herbals”.