Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen — The Masterwork Behind Our Prints

In 1887, the German publisher Franz Eugen Köhler released one of the most remarkable botanical works ever created: Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen. This three-volume atlas contained over 400 chromolithographic illustrations of the medicinal plants used in pharmacopoeias across Europe and the United States — from the Pharmacopoea Germanica to the Pharmacopoea Danica, the British Pharmacopoeia, and the Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America.

The text was written principally by Hermann Adolph Köhler (1834–1879), a physician and chemist, and edited posthumously by the botanist Gustav Pabst. The illustrations were created by artists Walther Otto Müller, C.F. Schmidt and K. Gunther using chromolithography — the finest colour printing technique of the era.

The chromolithographic technique

Each plate required multiple hand-drawn limestone printing surfaces — one for each colour — layered with extraordinary precision to recreate the plant in lifelike detail. The result was a level of botanical accuracy and artistic beauty that photography could not yet match.

The four volumes

• Volume 1 (1887): 84 plates covering foundational European medicinal plants
• Volume 2 (1890): 110 plates expanding to tropical and colonial medicinal species
• Volume 3 (1898): 80 additional plates including corrections and new species
• Volume 4 (1914): 29 supplementary plates published by Friedrich von Zezschwitz

From pharmacopoeia to artwork

Köhler's work was not created as art — it was a practical scientific reference for pharmacists and physicians. Each illustration served the precise purpose of enabling accurate identification of medicinal plants. Yet the artistry of the chromolithographic plates transcended their utilitarian purpose. Today, these illustrations are celebrated as some of the finest botanical art of the 19th century.

At Herbarium Prints, we honour this dual legacy. Each poster reproduces the original illustration alongside a modern, scientifically verified description of the plant's medicinal properties — connecting 19th-century botanical art with 21st-century pharmacological knowledge.

Public domain and sources

All illustrations are in the public domain. The original works are preserved in the collections of the Missouri Botanical Garden and are digitally accessible through the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Wikimedia Commons. Our colour-corrected reproductions have been carefully processed to restore the warmth and detail of the original chromolithographs.