Pedanius Dioscorides, "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek pharmacologist, physician, botanist, and author of De materia medica, a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic pharmacopeia on herbal medicine and related medicinal substances, that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. For almost two millennia Dioscorides was regarded as the most prominent writer on plants and plant drugs. 40 – 90; died at about 50. Alive at the same time as Paul the Apostle, Plutarch, Nero, Pliny the Elder, and Seneca. Wiki link