Herbs

If you found this page hoping the mayapple plant is a natural remedy you can use at home, here’s the honest answer first: nearly everything genuinely valuable about mayapple reaches …

The purslane plant is that succulent weed pushing up through sidewalk cracks and vegetable beds every summer — and gram for gram, its leaves carry more alpha-linolenic acid, the plant …

Since the Middle Ages, the tormentil plant has been used to ease what was known as “torments” (intestinal colic). Its name comes from that fact. Due to its intense effects, …

Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is a thorny European shrub whose small black berries have been used as a laxative for centuries — the species name cathartica literally means “purging.” The …

The guava tree benefits human health in three different ways: its leaves and root bark are tannin-rich and have been used for centuries against acute diarrhea, its fruit is one …

Rowan grows isolated among other mountain trees and does not form bushes. Its flamboyant fruits are delicious for birds. In some cities, rowan trees are grown as ornamental plants. These …

The castor bean plant gives you two things that could hardly be more different. One is castor oil — a laxative so well characterized that the FDA has approved it …

Patience dock is a plant in the same botanical genus as bugloss, which has similar properties, and sorrel, which differs in having a bitter, not acid, flavor. All these plants …

In spring, the young buds of the burnet plant are used in salad dishes because of their tasty, refreshing flavor. Like greater burnet, this plant was not known by great …

The greater burnet plant was discovered and used from the Renaissance onwards. Since its flower spikes look like blood clots, it was supposed to be helpful in hemorrhage treatment, and …