Al-Ghafiqi; according to a thirteenth-century historian of Arab medicine; Ibn Abi `Usyabi`ah; was the greatest savant of medicinal plants; their names and their properties; and his work had no equal in this field. This view was later confirmed by Max Meyerhof (d. 1945); the eminent historian of Islamic medicine; who stated that al-Ghafiqi was undoubtedly the greatest botanist and pharmacologist of the Islamic period.

In his work; originally composed as an aide-m閙oire; al-Ghafiqi relied heavily on his illustrious Greek predecessors; such as Dioscorides (1st century CE) and Galen (2nd century CE); and his fellow Muslims; such as; Abu Hanifah al-Dinawari (d.895); Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (d.925); and Ibn Samajun (d.1001). His important contribution; however; lies in the additional information that he supplies; his knowledge of the plants of southern Spain and Morocco; as well as an astonishing understanding of the synonyms of plants in such languages as Greek; Syriac; Latin; Berber; Spanish; and Persian.