c. 1200), better known as Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, Ibn al-Rumiya or al-Ashshab,[1] (Arabic: أبو العباس النباتي, Abu’l-ʿAbbās al-Nabātī), was an Andalusian scientist, botanist, pharmacist and theologian.
Nabati was a descendant of freed slaves, and the nickname Ibn al-Rumiyah[7] or "son of the Roman woman" was due to his mother's Byzantine Greek ethnicity, a fact which was said to cause Nabati a measure of embarrassment.
[8] Born in Seville, Spain in 1166,[8] Nabati traveled to North Africa, the Levant and Iraq while pursuing his education, eventually spending a period in Alexandria in 1216.
[8] Upon his return to Spain, Nabati authored his famous work Botanical Journey, an early book on plant and herb species which he based on his observations around the world.
[10] Nabati wrote a commentary on the book of Pedanius Dioscorides which bore the title Materia Medica after the term.