Medicinal plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the by Leonhart Fuchs (1543).

In mid-16 th century, three scientific books have been edited, which have been a real sensation, each one in its own scientific field. The first one, published in Nürnberg by Nikolaus Kopernikus, named: "" put the sun in the center of the universe, and takes the human being out of the middle of the world. The second one, published in Basel by Andreas Vesalius: "", describes the anatomy of the human body and the third one, also published in Basel by Leonhart Fuchs, was named ". It shows woodcuts of the most important medicinal plants of its time along with botanical descriptions and therapeutic uses. This book emerged as one of the most influential botanical works of the 16 th century and is still interesting. Here, we used it to investigate which medicinal plants of the Early Modern times contained pyrrolizidine alkaloids. In total, 15 species were identified.