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Językoznawstwo baner

No. 3/28 (2026)

Articles

«Sailing… I saw all sorts of various woody plants». Age of Discovery texts: the plant world revisited

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25312/j.10808  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2026-10-23

Abstract

The article examines representations of exotic trees in accounts of the Age of Discovery dating from the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The study aims to identify the characteristic features of descriptions of flora previously unknown to Europeans and to indicate how these accounts differed from earlier medieval representations. The material is drawn primarily from Book Ten of Marcin Bielski’s Chronicle of the Whole World, which contains accounts of newly encountered lands in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The study employs descriptive historical-linguistic analysis supplemented by botanical evidence. The findings show that both eyewitnesses to overseas flora and chroniclers who recorded their journeys portrayed plants realistically yet concisely, focusing primarily on their most distinctive features and properties. This mode of representing exotic nature differed markedly from the earlier medieval model, which was strongly shaped by fantastical conceptions. The analysis also demonstrates that successive stages of compiling and translating travel accounts could distort the geographical and botanical information being transmitted.

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