[8] Between AD 50 and 70 [9] Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek, Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς (Perì hylēs íatrikēs), known in Western Europe more often by its Latin title De materia medica ("On Medical Material"), which became the precursor to all modern pharmacopeias.

[12]While being reproduced in manuscript form through the centuries, it was often supplemented with commentary and minor additions from Arabic and Indian sources.

[14] De materia medica is the prime historical source of information about the medicines used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity.

The work also records the Dacian,[15] Thracian,[16] Roman, ancient Egyptian and North African (Carthaginian) names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost.

A butterfly, the bush hopper, Ampittia dioscorides which is found from India southeast towards Indonesia and east towards China, is named after him.