Remedies

Pedanius Dioscorides, the Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author (1st century A.D.), already warned that the flowers and leaves of the oleander plant are “deadly” poisonous for dogs, donkeys, mules, …

The poisonberry plant (Solanum nigrum), known to botanists as black nightshade, is a common weed with a confusing reputation. Parts of it are eaten as a cooked vegetable in some …

The physicians of ancient Greece and Rome regarded the betony plant as a kind of panacea. It is believed that Roman Emperor Nero’s physician wrote a list of forty-seven diseases …

The name of the field scabious plant comes from the Latin word scabies (which means, precisely, scabies). From the Middle Ages onwards, it has been used to treat diverse skin …

The Madonna lily has one of the longest paper trails of any European folk remedy for skin. Across Sardinia, Tuscany, the Catalan Pyrenees, the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, people …

Every year, a new stem grows from the rhizome of Solomon’s seal plant, and when it dries and disappears in winter, it leaves a mark as if it were a …

Ancient Mexican natives used prickly pear leaves as poultices to heal wounds and bruises. Spanish colonists brought it to Europe, spreading quickly throughout the Mediterranean basin. Prickly Pear Scientific Facts …

Pedanius Dioscorides, in the first century A.D., already mentioned the celandine plant and remarked that swallows restore the sense of sight to their chicks by touching their eyes with a …

Hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) shows up in old European herbals as a wound plant: leaves mashed into poultices for burns, cracked hands, and sores that refused to close. If you …

Hippocrates used the birchwort plant for difficult labor two thousand five hundred years ago. Hence, its Greek etymology is aristos (excellent) and lokios (labor). Its internal use has decreased due …