ELIZA ORZESZKOWA AS A HERBALIST

The aim of the paper is to present the interest in herbalism of the 19th-century Polish novelist Eliza Orzeszkowa. Herbaria compiled by Eliza Orzeszkowa have been analysed and compared with 19th-century writings on herbalism. Eliza Orzeszkowa collected information on herbalism in the Grodno region. The data she obtained were published in the ethnographic journal 'Wisla'. In order to document the knowledge she obtained, Orzeszkowa created herbal collections containing Latin, Polish and folk names of the collected plants. Her interest in botany led her to develop an artistic streak, which manifested itself in the form of beautiful botanical albums and pictures. Through her interest in herbalism, Eliza Orzeszkowa contributed to the preservation of wonderful folk names of herbs and enriched our stock of information on folk medicine in the 19th century. Her plant pictures provide evidence that she was an expert in herbalism.