Hortus Malabaricus is a 17th-century Latin botanical treatise documenting the varieties and medicinal properties of the flora of the Malabar coast. It was compiled in 12 volumes by Hendrik van Rheede, the Governor of Dutch Malabar from 1669 to 1676. Fr. Matheus of St. Joseph OCD a distinguished herbalist, was an Italian Carmelite Missionary and Van Rheede's friend.

Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein was a military man and a colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company and naturalist.