Adam Lonicer was born on October 10, 1528 in Marburg. After his schooling, he studied in Marburg and Mainz. In 1553, Lonicer became professor for Mathematics at the University in Marburg and was named Doctor of Medicine the next year. Lonicer found his real interest in herbs, plants, and animals. Lonicer's first important work on herbs was published in 1578 as a reference work. In the two decades between 1557 and 1577, he published four more editions of his book on herbs, entitled "Adam Lonicer's Book of Herbs and Artificial Counterfeiting, with the Art of Distillery" ("Adam Loniceri Kräuter Buch und künstliche Conterfeyungen sammt der Kunst zu Destillieren"). The scholar, reseacher, and writer Adam Lonicer died on May 29, 1586 in Frankfurt am Main.