Odo Magdunensis and the Macer floridus

Odo Magdunensis’ De viribus herbarum (transmitted as the Macer floridus) is a Latin hexameter didactic poem on medicinal plants that became a standard point of reference for medieval materia medica. The work condenses late antique authorities, especially Dioscorides, Pliny and Galen, and in expanded form incorporates graded pharmacology lifted from Constantinus Africanus (Liber graduum). Its transmission is marked by openness to rearrangement and accretion, including the Spuria Macri and the emergence of the German prose Macer (c. 1220), which reflects shifting audiences and functions. Persistent problems include the instability of author attributions under the name “Macer” and recurrent uncertainties of drug identification, while the reception can be traced into early modern herbals and, in selected cases, into later phytotherapeutic discourse.

This brief outlines authorship, dating, transmission, translations, and current research trends, linking the philological work of Johannes G. Mayer and Konrad Goehl (2013) [MG], Bernhard Schnell and William Crossgrove (2003) [SC], and Ulrike Jansen (2013) [J] with the current significance of the plants discussed.