Botanicon: continens herbarvm, aliorvmqve simplicium,

The Botanicon is an illustrated manuscript, concentrating on medicinal herbal and floral images, entitled 'Botanicon, : continens herbarvm, aliorvmqve simplicium, quorum usus in medicinis est, descriptiones, & iconas ad uiuum effigiatas'.

Theodore Dorsten was a botanist and doctor who taught at the University of Marburg. For a while he edited herbals produced by the publisher Christian Egenolph. The Botanicon is an updated version of Dr. Eucharius Rosslin's herbal, which itself was an edited version of earlier works. The publisher was notorious for using pirated woodcuts, but had great success with his books as they appealed widely both for their illustrations and for their text. They were however heavily criticised for the errors they contained. It is difficult to tell whether the colouring is contemporary or whether it was added much later.

The University of Marburg, officially Philipps-Universit t Marburg, was founded in 1527 by Landgrave Philipp I of Hesse (usually called the Magnanimous) as the world's first and oldest Protestant university.

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