Herbs

The Spanish King Phillip II ordered Gonzalo Hernandez de Toledo to transport the tobacco plant to Europe. The first plants arrived in Europe in 1559, and soon, the first cultivations …

Like their relatives, the high mallow and althea plants are sweet and soft. Even their leaves are delicately covered with velvet-like hairs. Dioscorides already recommended this plant in the 1st …

The psychological effects of the opium poppy plant were already known by the Ancient Sumerians 5000 years ago. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher, botanist, and physician who lived in the 3rd …

The yerba mate plant comprises the ingredients of a trendy drink in South America, especially in regions where the diet is meat-based. Its aroma, chemical composition, and effects resemble those …

Over the ages, the hemp plant has been grown to obtain textile fibers for ropes and fabrics. The drunkenness and mental disorders that the men working with hemp fibers suffered …

Poison hemlock is quite widespread, and it is worth knowing how to distinguish it from other plants belonging to the same botanical family, Umbelliferae, to which it is similar: European …

Prickly lettuce is unlike farmed lettuce, which is tender and milky, just as it is used in salads; however, it lacks practically any medicinal properties. Instead, it is a valuable …

The red eyebright plant has been used since the Middle Ages and onwards to heal conjunctivitis, blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids), superficial keratitis (inflammation of the cornea), and eye tearing. …

The great 11th-century Arabic physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) said the bee balm plant “has the admirable property of giving comfort and joyfulness.” From the early 17th century onwards, the Barefooted …

The wolfsbane plant has the highest concentration of poison of all plants growing in Europe. This concentration is only exceeded by another species of the same genus, the Aconitum Ferox …