Herbal-Gardens - HerbsAgnus Castus(Agnus castus)Common Names: Chaste Tree. |
The seeds were once held in repute for securing chastity, and the Athenian matrons in the sacred rites of Ceres used to string their couches with the leaves. The fresh ripe berries are pounded to a pulp and used in the form of a tincture for the relief of paralysis, pains in the limbs, weakness, etc. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Agrimony(Agrimonia Eupatoria)Common Names: Common Agrimony. Church Steeples. Cockeburr. Sticklewort. Philanthropos |
Agrimony has an old reputation as a popular, domestic medicinal herb, being a simple well known to all country-folk. IIn the Middle Ages, it was said to have magic powers, if laid under a man's head inducing heavy sleep till removed, but no narcotic properties are ascribed to it. . The Anglo-Saxons, who called it Garclive, taught that it would heal wounds, snake bites, warts, etc. In the time of Chaucer, when we find its name appearing in the form of Egrimoyne, it was used with Mugwort and vinegar for 'a bad back' and 'alle woundes': and one of these old writers recommends it to be taken with a mixture of pounded frogs and human blood, as a remedy for all internal haemorrhages. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Angelica(Angelica Archangelica)Common Names: Garden Angelica. Archangelica officinalis. |
In Couriand, Livonia and the low lakelands of Pomerania and East Prussia, wild-growing Angelica abounds; there, in early summer-time, it has been the custom among the peasants to march into the towns carrying the Angelica flower-stems and to offer them for sale, chanting some ancient ditty in Lettish words, so antiquated as to be unintelligible even to the singers themselves. The chanted words and the tune are learnt in childhood, and may be attributed to a survival of some Pagan festival with which the plant was originally associated. After the introduction of Christianity, the plant became linked in the popular mind with some archangelic patronage, and associated with the spring-time festival of the Annunciation. Angelica is a good remedy for colds, coughs, pleurisy, wind, colic, rheumatism and diseases of the urinary organs, though it should not be given to patients who have a tendency towards diabetes, as it causes an increase of sugar in the urine. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) of herb or root |
Aniseed(Pimpinella anisum) |
Turner's Herbal, 1551, says that 'Anyse maketh the breth sweter and swageth payne.' 'The seeds,' says Delamer, Kitchen Garden, 1861, 'are much used by distillers to give flavour to cordial liqueurs.' Anisette is a liqueur flavoured with aniseed. Langham, Garden Health, 1683, says: 'For the dropsie, fill an old cock with Polipody and Aniseeds and seethe him well, and drink the broth.' The leaves are useful for seasoning some dishes. The essential oil of Anise is a good preventive of mould in paste. The ground seeds form an ingredient of sachet powders. | £1.30/$2.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Ash Leaves(Fraxinus excelsior)Common Names: Common Ash. Weeping Ash |
Ash bark has been employed as a bitter tonic and astringent, and is said to be valuable as an antiperiodic. On account of its astringency, it has been used, in decoction, extensively in the treatment of intermittent fever and ague, as a substitute for Peruvian bark. It has been considered useful to remove obstructions of the liver and spleen, and in rheumatism of an arthritic nature | £1.60/$$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Balm of Gilead Buds(Commiphora Opobalsamum)Common Names: Balsamum Meccae var. Judiacum. Balsamum Gileadense. Baume de la Mecque. Balsamodendrum Opobalsamum. Balessan. Bechan. Balsam Tree. Amyris Gileadensis. Amyris Opobalsamum. Balsumodendron Gileadensis. Protium Gileadense. Dossémo. |
alm, Baulm or Bawm, contracted from Balsam, may be derived from the Hebrew bot smin, 'chief of oils,' or bâsâm, 'balm,' and besem, 'a sweet smell.' Opobalsamum is used by Dioscorides to mean 'the juice flowing from the balsam-tree.' Pliny states that the tree was first brought to Rome by the generals of Vespasian, while Josephus relates that it was taken from Arabia to Judea by the Queen of Sheba as a present to Solomon. There, being cultivated for its juice, particularly on Mount Gilead, it acquired its popular name | £2.75/$5.25 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Barberry Bark(Berberis vulgaris)Common Names:Berbery. Pipperidge Bush. Berberis Dumetorum |
Tonic, purgative, antiseptic. It is used in the form of a liquid extract, given as decoction, infusion or tincture, but generally a salt of the alkaloid Berberine is preferred. As a bitter stomachic tonic, it proves an excellent remedy for dyspepsia and functional derangement of the liver, regulating the digestive powers, and if given in larger doses, acting as a mild purgative and removing constipation. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Basil(Ocymum basilium)Common Names: Sweet Basil, Common Basil |
Culpepper says: 'Being applied to the place bitten by venomous beasts, or stung by a wasp or hornet, it speedily draws the poison to it. - Every like draws its like. Mizaldus affirms, that being laid to rot in horse-dung, it will breed venomous beasts. Hilarius, a French physician, affirms upon his own knowledge, that an acquaintance of his, by common smelling to it, had a scorpion breed in his brain.' In India the Basil plant is sacred to both Krishna and Vishnu, and is cherished in every Hindu house. Probably on account of its virtues, in disinfecting, and vivifying malarious air, it first became inseparable from Hindu houses in India as the protecting spirit of the family. Every good Hindu goes to his rest with a Basil leaf on his breast. This is his passport to Paradise. | £1/$1.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Bay Leaves(Laurus nobilis)Common Names: Sweet Bay. True Laurel. Laurel (Bay). Laurier d'Apollon. Roman Laurel. Noble Laurel. Lorbeer. Laurier Sauce. Daphne |
The Delphic priestesses are said to have made use of the leaves. Leaves, berries and oil have excitant and narcotic properties. Except as a stimulant in veterinary practice the leaves and fruit are very rarely used internally. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Bayberry Root Bark(Myrica cerifera)Common Names: Wax Myrtle. Myrica. Candle Berry. Arbre à suif. Myricae Cortex. Tallow Shrub. Wachsgagle. |
The bark as found in commerce is in curved pieces from 1 to 7 inches long, covered with a thin, mottled layer, the cork beneath being smooth and red-brown. The fracture is reddish, granular, and slightly fibrous. The odour is aromatic, and the taste astringent, bitter, and very acrid. It should be separated from the fresh root by pounding, in late autumn, thoroughly dried, and when powdered, kept in darkened, well-closed vessels | £4.55/$9 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Bearberry Leaf(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi )Common names: Arberry, bear's grape, kinnikinnick, mealberry, mountain box, mountain cranberry, red bearberry, sagackhomi, sandberry, upland cranberry, uva ursi. |
Bearberry helps to reduce accumulations of uric acid and to releave the pain of bladder stones and gravel. Will cause urine to change colour if ingested but this should not cause alarm however prolonged ingestion can lead to cronic poisoning (ed. note: I always find the herbs which bear a warning similar to this are the ones which are psychoactive). According to the Gnostic Garden, the leaves are smoked by Native American Indians as an inebrient. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Bethroot(Trillium pendulum)Common Names: Indian Shamrock. Birthroot. Lamb's Quarters. Wake-Robin. Indian Balm. Ground Lily. |
The fluid extract is an ingredient in Compound Elixir of Viburnum Opulus. The drug is one of those prepared by the Shakers. Is said to have been in use among the aborigines and early settlers of North America. It is antiseptic, astringent and tonic expectorant, being used principally in haemorrhages, to promote parturition, and externally, usually in the form of a poultice, as a local irritant in skin diseases, or to restrain gangrene. | £5.50/$10.75 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Birch Leaf(Betula alba)Common Names: White Birch. Bouleau. Berke. Bereza. Monoecia triandria. B. pubescens. B. verrucosa. |
Coleridge speaks of it as the 'Lady of the Woods.' It is remarkable for its lightness, grace, and elegance, and after rain it has a fragrant odour. The leaves contain betulorentic acid. The leaves have a peculiar, aromatic, agreeable odour and a bitter taste, and have been employed in the form of infusion (Birch Tea) in gout, rheumatism and dropsy, and recommended as a reliable solvent of stone in the kidneys. | £1.60/$$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Black Cohosh Root(Cimicifuga racemosa)Common Names: Black Snake Root. Rattle Root. Squaw Root. Bugbane. |
Astringent, emmenagogue, diuretic, alterative, expectorant. The root of this plant is much used in America in many disorders, and is supposed to be an antidote against poison and the bite of the rattlesnake. The fresh root, dug in October, is used to make a tincture. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Black Haw Bark(Viburnum opulus)Common Names: Cramp Bark. Snowball Tree. King's Crown. High Cranberry. Red Elder. Rose Elder. Water Elder. May Rose. Whitsun Rose. Dog Rowan Tree. Silver Bells. Whitsun Bosses. Gaitre Berries. Guelder Rose |
The bark, known as Cramp Bark, is employed in herbal medicine. It used formerly to be included in the United States Pharmacopoeia, but is now omitted though it has been introduced into the National Formulary in the form of a Fluid Extract, Compound Tincture and Compound Elixir, for use as a nerve sedative and anti-spasmodic in asthma and hysteria. In herbal practice in this country, its administration in decoction and infusion, as well as the fluid extract and compound tincture is recommended. | £4.55/$9 per 30g (over 1 oz) for raw or powder |
Blood Root(Sanguinaria Candensis)Common Names: Indian Paint. Tetterwort. Red Pucoon. Red Root. Paucon. Coon Root. Snakebite. Sweet Slumber. |
Protopine (also found in opium) is one of the most widely diffused of the opium alkaloids. The root has long been used by the American Indians as a dye for their bodies and clothes and has been used successfully by American and French dyers. In toxic doses, it causes burning in the stomach, intense thirst, vomiting, faintness vertigo, intense prostration with dimness of eyesight. | £5.50/$10.75 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Blue Cohosh Root(Caulophyllum thalictroides)Common Names: Pappoose Root. Squawroot. Blueberry Root |
Emmenagogue, antispasmodic, diuretic, diaphoretic and anthelmintic. Said to be successfully used in rheumatism, dropsy, epilepsy, hysteria and uterine inflammation, specially for chronic cases. It is sometimes combined with Mitchella repens and Eupatoria aromatica. In use it is preferable to Ergot, expediting delivery, where delay results from debility, fatigue or want of uterine nervous energy. | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Borage(Borago officinalis)Common Names: Burrage |
Some authorities consider that the Latin name Borago, from which our popular name is taken, is a corruption of corago, from cor, the heart, and ago, I bring, because of its cordial effect. Henslow suggests that the name is derived from barrach, a Celtic word meaning 'a man of courage.' According to Dioscorides and Pliny, Borage was the famous Nepenthe of Homer, which when drunk steeped in wine, brought absolute forgetfulness. John Evelyn, writing at the close of the seventeenth century tells us: 'Sprigs of Borage are of known virtue to revive the hypochrondriac and cheer the hard student.' | £1.60/$$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Boneset(Eupatorium perfoliatum)Common Names: Thoroughwort |
Boneset was a favourite medicine of the North American Indians, who called it by a name that is equivalent to 'Ague-weed,' and it has always been a popular remedy in the United States, probably no plant in American domestic practice having more extensive and frequent use; it is also in use to some extent in regular practice, being official in the United States Pharmacopceia, though it is not included in the British Pharmacopoeia | £1.60/$$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Broom Flowers(Cytisus scoparius)Common names: Link, Irish broom, Scotch Broom |
Broom seeds and twigs are sometimes mixed with equal parts of dandelion root to make a diuretic mixture. The seeds are effective as an emetic. There are some reports of hallucinogenic properties in the flowering tops when they are smoked in cigarettes. Scotch Broom also speeds up the heartbeat. CAUTION: large doses of Scotch Broom can cause fatal poisoning. For the best smoking mixtures, it is suggested that the blossoms are aged in a sealed jar for 10 days, dried and rolled into cigarettes. As with Spanish broom, contains sparteine | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Broom Tops(Cytisus scoparius)Common Names: Spartium scoparium (Linn.). Genista scoparius (Lam.). Sarothamnus scoparius (Koch). Broom Tops. Irish Tops. Basam. Bisom. Bizzom. Browme. Brum. Breeam. Green Broom |
Broom was used in ancient Anglo-Saxon medicine and by the Welsh physicians of the early Middle Ages. It had a place in the London Pharmacopceia of 1618 and is included in the British Pharmacopoeia of the present day. Fulke of Anjou bore it as his personal cognizance, and Henry II of England, his grandson, as a claimant of that province, also adopted it, its mediaeval name Planta genista, giving the family name of Plantagenets to his line. It may be seen on the Great Seal of Richard I, this being its first official, heraldic appearance in England | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Burdock Root(Arctium lappa)Common Names: Lappa. Fox's Clote. Thorny Burr. Beggar's Buttons. Cockle Buttons. Love Leaves. Philanthropium. Personata. Happy Major. Clot-Bur |
An old English name for the Burdock was 'Herrif,' 'Aireve,' or 'Airup,' from the Anglo-Saxon hoeg, a hedge, and reafe, a robber - or from the Anglo-Saxon verb reafian, to seize. Culpepper gives as popular names in his time: Personata, Happy Major and Clot-Bur. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) raw or powder |
Calamus(Acorus Calamus)Common Names: Sweet sedge. Sweet Flag. Sweet Root. Sweet Rush. Sweet Cane. Gladdon. Sweet Myrtle. Myrtle Grass. Myrtle Sedge. Cinnamon Sedge. |
Formerly, on account of its pleasant odour, it was freely strewn on the floors of churches at festivals and often in private houses, instead of rushes. The specific name, calamus, is derived from the Greek calamos (a reed). The floors of Norwich Cathedral until quite recently were always strewn with calamus at great festivals. As the Sweet Sedge did not grow near London, but had to be fetched at considerable expense from Norfolk and Suffolk, one of the charges of extravagance brought against Cardinal Wolsey was his habit of strewing his floors with fresh rushes. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Cassia Bark(Cinnamomum cassia)Common Names: Bastard Cinnamon. Chinese Cinnamon. Cassia lignea. Cassia Bark. Cassia aromaticum. Canton Cassia. |
The dried, unripe fruits, or Chinese Cassia Buds, have the odour and taste of the bark, and are rather like small cloves in appearance. They have been known in Europe as a spice since the Middle Ages, being then probably used in preparing a spiced wine called Hippocras. Now they are employed in confectionery and in making Pot-Pourri. The importation of the buds into the U.S.A. in 1916 was 197,156 lb., and of Cassia and Cassia leaves 7,487,156 lb. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Catmint(Nepeta cataria)Common Names: Catnep, Catnip |
The plant has an aromatic, characteristic odour, which bears a certain resemblance to that of both Mint and Pennyroyal. It is owing to this scent that it has a strange fascination for cats, who will destroy any plant of it that may happen to be bruised. There is an old saying about this plant: 'If you set it, the cats will eat it, If you sow it, the cats don't know it.' And it seems to be a fact that plants transplanted are always destroyed by cats unless protected, but they never meddle with the plants raised from seed, being only attracted to it when it is in a withering state, or when the peculiar scent of the plant is excited by being bruised in gathering or transplanting. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Centaury Herb(Erythraea centaurium)Common Names: Centaury Gentian. Century. Red Centaury. Filwort. Centory. Christ's Ladder. Feverwort. |
We find a reference to it in Le Petit Albert. Fifteen magical herbs of the Ancients are given: 'The eleventh hearbe is named of the Chaldees, Isiphon . . . of Englishmen, Centory . . . this herbe hath a marvellous virtue, for if it be joined with the blood of a female lapwing, or black plover, and put with oile in a lamp, all that compass it about shall believe themselves to be witches, so that one shall believe of another that his head is in heaven and his feete on earth; and if the aforesaid thynge be put in the fire when the starres shine it shall appeare yt the sterres runne one agaynste another and fyghte.' (English translation, 1619.) Also in a translation of an old mediaeval Latin poem of the tenth century, by Macer, there is mention of Centaury (with other herbs) as being powerful against 'wykked sperytis.' | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Chamomile(German)(Matricaria chamomilla)Synonym: Wild Chamomile |
The German Chamomile, sometimes called the Wild Chamomile, has flower-heads about 3/4 inch broad, with about fifteen white, strap shaped, reflexed ray florets and numeroustubular yellow, perfect florets. | £1.95/$3.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Chamomile(Roman)(Anthemis nobilis)Synonyms---Manzanilla (Spanish). Maythen (Saxon) |
Chamomile is one of the oldest favourites amongst garden herbs and its reputation as a medicinal plant shows little signs of abatement. The Egyptians reverenced it for its virtues, and from their belief in its power to cure ague, dedicated it to their gods. No plant was better known to the country folk of old, it having been grown for centuries in English gardens for its use as a common domestic medicine to such an extent that the old herbals agree that 'it is but lost time and labour to describe it.' | £3.85/$7.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Cinnamon Sticks (Quills)(Cinnamomum zeylanicum) |
The commercial Cinnamon bark is the dried inner bark of the shoots. | £2.35/$4 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Cleavers(Galium aparine)Synonyms---Cleavers. Goosegrass. Barweed. Hedgeheriff. Hayriffe. Eriffe. Grip Grass. Hayruff. Catchweed. Scratweed. Mutton Chops. Robin-run-in-the-Grass. Loveman. Goosebill. Everlasting Friendship. |
The seeds of Clivers form one of the best substitutes for coffee; they require simply to be dried and slightly roasted over a fire, and so prepared, have much the flavour of coffee. We learn from Dioscorides that the Greek shepherds of his day employed the stems of this herb to make a rough sieve, and it is rather remarkable that Linnaeus reported the same use being made of it in Sweden, in country districts, as a filter to strain milk; the stalks are still used thus in Sweden. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Cloves(Eugenia caryophyllata) |
At the start of the rainy season long greenish buds appear; from the extremity of these the corolla comes which is of a lovely rosy peach colour; as the corolla fades the calyx turns yellow, then red. The calyces, with the embryo seed, are at this stage beaten from the tree and when dried are the cloves of commerce. The flowers have a strong refreshing odour. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Coltsfoot Flowers(Tussilago Farfara)Synonyms---Coughwort. Hallfoot. Horsehoof. Ass's Foot. Foalswort. Fieldhove. Bullsfoot. Donnhove. (French) Pas d'âne |
An old name for Coltsfoot was Filius ante patrem (the son before the father), because the star-like, golden flowers appear and wither before the broad, sea-green leaves are produced. The seeds are crowned with a tuft of silky hairs, the pappus, which are often used by goldfinches to line their nests, and it has been stated were in former days frequently employed by the Highlanders for stuffing mattresses and pillows | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Coltsfoot Leaf(Tussilago Farfara)Synonyms---Coughwort. Hallfoot. Horsehoof. Ass's Foot. Foalswort. Fieldhove. Bullsfoot. Donnhove. (French) Pas d'âne |
An old name for Coltsfoot was Filius ante patrem (the son before the father), because the star-like, golden flowers appear and wither before the broad, sea-green leaves are produced. The seeds are crowned with a tuft of silky hairs, the pappus, which are often used by goldfinches to line their nests, and it has been stated were in former days frequently employed by the Highlanders for stuffing mattresses and pillows | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Comfrey Leaf(Symphytum officinale)Synonyms---Common Comfrey. Knitbone. Knitback. Consound. Blackwort. Bruisewort. Slippery Root. Boneset. Yalluc (Saxon). Gum Plant. Consolida. Ass Ear |
Formerly country people cultivated Comfrey in their gardens for its virtue in wound healing, and the many local names of the plant testify to its long reputation as a vulnerary herb - in the Middle Ages it was a famous remedy for broken bones. The very name, Comfrey, is a corruption of con firma, in allusion to the uniting of bones it was thought to effect, and the
botanical name, Symphytum, is derived from the Greek symphyo (to unite) Comfrey leaves are of much value as an external remedy, both in the form of fomentations, for sprains, swellings and bruises, and as a poultice, to severe cuts, to promote suppuration of boils and abscesses, and gangrenous and ill-conditioned ulcers . The whole plant, beaten to a cataplasm and applied hot as a poultice, has always been deemed excellent for soothing pain in any tender, inflamed or suppurating part. It was formerly applied to raw, indolent ulcers as a glutinous astringent. It is useful in any kind of inflammatory swelling. |
£1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) leaf or root |
Couch Grass Rhizomes (Witches Grass)(Agropyrum repens)Synonyms---Twitch-grass. Scotch Quelch. Quick-grass. Dog-grass. Triticum repens (Linn.) |
The ancients were familiar with a grass under the names of Agrostis and Gramen - having a creeping root-stock like the Couchgrass. Dioscorides asserts that its root, taken in the form of decoction is a useful remedy in suppression of urine and stone in the bladder. The same statements are made by Pliny, and are found in the writings of Oribasius and Marcellus Empiricus in the fourth century and of Ætius in the sixth century, and figures of the plant may be found in Dodoens's herbal. The drug is also met with in the German pharmaceutical tariffs of the sixteenth century. Formerly the decoction of Couch-grass roots was a popular drink taken to purify the blood in spring. The drug is still a domestic remedy in great repute in France, being taken as a demulcent and sudorific in the form of a tisane. Readers of Trilby will remember Little Billee being dosed with this, as most Parisians have been. The French also use the Cocksfoot-grass (Cynodon Dactylon), which they term Pied-de-poule, in a similar way and for a similar purpose. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) leaf or root |
Cowslip Flowers(Primula veris)Synonyms---Herb Peter. Paigle. Peggle. Key Flower. Key of Heaven. Fairy Cups. Petty Mulleins. Crewel. Buckles. Palsywort. Plumrocks. Mayflower. Password. Artetyke. Drelip. Our Lady's Keys. Arthritica. (Anglo-Saxon) Cuy lippe. (Greek) Paralysio. |
The Midsummer Night's Dream refers to the old belief that the flower held a magic value for the complexion In old Herbals we find the plant called Herb Peter and Key Flower, the pendent flowers suggesting a bunch of keys, the emblem of St. Peter, the idea having descended from old pagan times, for in Norse mythology the flower was dedicated to Frcya, the Key Virgin, and was thought to admit to her treasure palace. In northern Europe the idea of dedication to the goddess was transferred with the change of religion, and it became dedicated to the Virgin Mary, so we find it called 'Our Lady's Keys' and 'Key of Heaven,' and 'Keyflower' remains still the most usual name. The flowers have a very distinctive and fresh fragrance and somewhat narcotic juices, which have given rise to their use in making the fermented liquor called Cowslip Wine, which had formerly a great and deserved reputation and is still largely drunk in country parts, being much produced in the Midlands. | £3.85/$7.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Damiana Leaf(Turnera aphrodisiaca) |
Mild purgative, diuretic, tonic, acting directly on the reproductive organs, stimulant, hypochondriastic, aphrodisiae.Turnera opifera leaves are used as an infusion and given as an astringent and tonic by the natives of Brazil, also T. ulmifolia for its tonic and expectorant properties. Damiana is popular | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Devils Claw Root(Harpogophytum procumbens) |
Numerous tribes native to Southern Africa have utilized devil's claw for a wide variety of conditions, ranging from gastrointestinal difficulties to arthritic conditions. Devil's claw has been widely used in Europe as a treatment for arthritis. Devil's claw is also considered by herbalists to be a potent bitter. Bitter principles, like the iridoid glycosides found in devil's claw, stimulate the stomach to increase the production of acid, thereby helping to improve digestion. | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Elderflowers(Sambucus nigra)Black Elder. Common Elder. Pipe Tree. Bore Tree. Bour Tree. (Fourteenth Century) Hylder, Hylantree. (Anglo-Saxon) Eldrum. (Low Saxon). Ellhorn. (German) Hollunder. (French) Sureau |
Here is a recipe that can be carried out at home: Fill a large jar with Elder blossoms, pressing them down, the stalks of course having been removed previously. Pour on them 2 quarts of boiling water and when slightly cooled, add 1 1/2 OZ. of rectified spirits. Cover with a folded cloth, and stand the jar in a warm place for some hours. Then allow it to get quite cold and strain through muslin. Put into bottles and cork securely. Elderflower Water in our great-grandmothers' days was a household word for clearing the complexion of freckles and sunburn, and keeping it in a good condition. Every lady's toilet table possessed a bottle of the liquid, and she relied on this to keep her skin fair and white and free from blemishes, and it has not lost its reputation. Its use after sea-bathing has been recommended, and if any eruption should appear on the face as the effect of salt water, it is a good plan to use a mixture composed of Elder Flower Water with glycerine and borax, and apply it night and morning. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Elderleaf(Sambucus nigra)Black Elder. Common Elder. Pipe Tree. Bore Tree. Bour Tree. (Fourteenth Century) Hylder, Hylantree. (Anglo-Saxon) Eldrum. (Low Saxon). Ellhorn. (German) Hollunder. (French) Sureau |
Sir Thomas Browne (1655) stated: 'The common people keep as a good secret in curing wounds the leaves of the Elder, which they have gathered the last day of April.' The leaves, boiled soft with a little linseed oil, were used as a healing application to piles. An ointment concocted from the green Elderberries, with camphor and lard, was formerly ordered by the London College of Surgeons to relieve the same complaint. The leaves are an ingredient of many cooling ointments: Here is another recipe, not made from Elder leaves alone, and very much recommended by modern herbalists as being very cooling and softening and excellent for all kinds of tumours, swellings and wounds: Take the Elder leaves 1/2 lb., Plantain leaves 1/4 lb., Ground Ivy 2 oz., Wormwood 4 oz. (all green); cut them small, and boil in 4 lb. of lard, in the oven, or over a slow fire; stir them continually until the leaves become crisp, then strain, and press out the ointment for use. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Elderberry(Sambucus nigra)Black Elder. Common Elder. Pipe Tree. Bore Tree. Bour Tree. (Fourteenth Century) Hylder, Hylantree. (Anglo-Saxon) Eldrum. (Low Saxon). Ellhorn. (German) Hollunder. (French) Sureau |
Elderberry Wine has a curative power of established repute as a remedy, taken hot, at night, for promoting perspiration in the early stages of severe catarrh, accompanied by shivering, sore throat, etc. Like Elderflower Tea, it is one of the best preventives known against the advance of influenza and the ill effects of a chill. A little cinnamon may be added. It has also a reputation as an excellent remedy for asthma. Almost from time immemorial, a 'Rob' (a vegetable juice thickened by heat) has been made from the juice of Elderberries simmered and thickened with sugar, forming an invaluable cordial for colds and coughs, but only of late years has science proved that Elderberries furnish Viburnic acid, which induces perspiration, and is especially useful in cases of bronchitis and similar troubles.
To make Elderberry Rob, 5 lb. of fresh ripe, crushed berries are simmered with 1 lb. of loaf sugar and the juice evaporated to the thickness of honey. It is cordial, aperient and diuretic. One or two tablespoonsful mixed with a tumblerful of hot water, taken at night, promotes perspiration and is demulcent to the chest. The Rob when made can be bottled and stored for the winter. Herbalists sell it ready for use. |
£1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Elecampane Root(Inula Helenium)Synonyms---Scabwort. Elf Dock. Wild Sunflower. Horseheal. Velvet Dock. (French) Aunée (German) Alantwurzel (Welsh) Marchalan |
In the United States, it has also been highly recommended, both for external use and internal administration in diseases of the skin, an old use of the root that has maintained its reputation for efficacy. Externally applied, it is somewhat rubefacient, and has been employed as an embrocation in the treatment of sciatica, facial and other neuralgia. Of late years, modern scientific research has proved that the claims of Elecampane to be a valuable remedy in pulmonary diseases has a solid basis. One authority, Korab, showed in 1885 that the active, bitter principle, Helenin, is such a powerful antiseptic and bactericide, that a few drops of a solution of 1 part in 10,000 immediately kills the ordinary bacterial organisms, being peculiarly destructive to the Tubercle bacillus. He gave it successfully in tubercular and catarrhal diarrhoeas, and praised it also as an antiseptic in surgery. In Spain it has been made use of as a surgical dressing. Obiol, in 1886, stated it to be an efficient local remedy in the treatment of diphtheria, the false membrane being painted with a solution of Helenin in Oil of Almond | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Eucalyptus Leaf(Eucalyptus globulus)Synonyms---Blue Gum Tree. Stringy Bark Tree |
The medicinal Eucalyptus Oil is probably the most powerful antiseptic of its class, especially when it is old, as ozone is formed in it on exposure to the air. It has decided disinfectant action, destroying the lower forms of life. Internally, it has the typical actions of a volatile oil in a marked degree. Eucalyptus Oil is used as a stimulant and antiseptic gargle. Locally applied, it impairs sensibility. It increases cardiac action. Its antiseptic properties confer some antimalarial action, though it cannot take the place of Cinchona. An emulsion made by shaking up equal parts of the oil and powdered gum-arabic with water has been used as a urethral injection, and has also been given internally in drachm doses in pulmonary tuberculosis and other microbic diseases of the lungs and bronchitis. In croup and spasmodic throat troubles, the oil may be freely applied externally. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Eyebright Herb(Euphrasia officinalis)Synonyms---Euphrasia. (French) Casse-lunette. (German) Augentröst. |
In Iceland, the expressed juice is used for most ailments of the eye, and in Scotland the Highlanders make an infusion of the
herb in milk and anoint weak or inflamed eyes with a feather dipped in it.
The dried herb is an ingredient in British Herbal Tobacco, which is smoked most usefully for chronic bronchial colds. A Marvelous Water to Preserve the Sight. 'Take the leaves of red roses, mints, sage,maidenhaire (or leave out sage and mint and take eyebright and vervin), bittony, such of the mountain, and endive, of each 6 handfuls: steep them in Whitewine 24 hours: then distill them in Alimpeck; the first water is like silver, the second like gold, the third like balme; keep it close in glasses. 'It helps all diseases of the eye.' (A Plain Plantain.) |
£2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Feverfew(Chrysanthemum Parthenium)Synonyms---Pyrethrum Parthenium (Sm.). Featherfew. Featherfoil. Flirtwort. Bachelor's Buttons |
Aperient, carminative, bitter. As a stimulant it is usefulas an emmenagogue. Is also employed in hysterical complaints, nervousness and lowness of spirits, and is a general tonic. The cold infusion is made from 1 OZ. of the herb to a pint of boiling water, allowed to cool, and taken frequently in doses of half a teacupful. A decoction with sugar or honey is said to be good for coughs, wheezing and difficult breathing. The herb, bruised and heated, or fried with a little wine and oil, has been employed as a warm external application for wind and colic. It is also commonly used to ward off migranes | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Fumitory(Fumaria officinalis)Synonyms---Earth Smoke. Beggary. Fumus. Vapor. Nidor. Fumus Terrae. Fumiterry, Scheiteregi. Taubenkropp. Kaphnos. Wax Dolls |
A weak tonic, slightly diaphoretic, diuretic, and aperient; valuable in all visceral obstructions, particularly those of the liver, in scorbutic affections, and in troublesome eruptive diseases, even those of the leprous order. A decoction makes a curative lotion for milk-crust on the scalp of an infant. Physicians and writers from Dioscorides to Chaucer, and from the fourteenth century to Cullen and to modern times value its purifying power. The Japanese make a tonic from it. Cows and sheep eat it, and the latter are said to derive great benefit from it. The leaves, in decoction or extract, may be used in almost any doses. The inspissated juice has also been employed, also a syrup, powder, cataplasm, distilled water, and several tinctures. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Galangal Root(Alpinia officinarum)Synonyms---Galanga. China Root. India Root. East India Catarrh Root. Lesser Galangal. Rhizoma Galangae. Gargaut. Colic Root. Kaempferia Galanga |
Stimulant and carminative. It is especially useful in flatulence, dyspepsia, vomiting and sickness at stomach, being recommended as a remedy for sea-sickness. It tones up the tissues and is sometimes prescribed in fever. Homoeopaths use it as a stimulant. Galangal is used in cattle medicine, and the Arabs use it to make their horses fiery. It is included in several compound preparations, but is not now often employed alone. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Gentian Root |
The name of the genus is derived from Gentius, an ancient King of Illyria (180-167 B.C.), who, according to Pliny and Dioscorides, discovered the medicinal value of these plants. During the Middle Ages, Gentian was commonly employed as an antidote to poison. Tragus, in 1552, mentions it as a means of diluting wounds | £3.85/$7.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Goats Rue(Galega officinalis)Synonyms---Herba ruta caprariae. Italian Fitch. (German) Pestilenzkraut |
Goat's Rue, known in the old Herbals as Herba rutae caprariae, is a leguminous plant that in former times was much employed on account of its diaphoretic properties in malignant fevers and the plague, hence one of its German popular names of Pestilenzkraut. 'The leaves, gathered just as the plant is going into flower and dried, with the addition of boiling water, make an infusion which being drunk plentifully, excites sweating and is good in fevers.' (Hill's Universal Herbal, 1832.) It was also used as a remedy for worms and recommended as a cure for the bites of serpents. Parkinson says it is 'good for fattening hens. This profuse-flowering, hardy perennial herb is a native of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean - Gerard calls it Italian Fitch - and it is widely cultivated in gardens in England. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Gotu Kola | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Grains of ParadiseSynonyms---Paprika. Sweet Pepper. Paradise Grains, Hungarian Pepper |
Grains of Paradise, Guinea Grains, Melegueta or Mallaguetta Pepper, from Ampelopsis Grana Paradisi, or Habzeli of Ethiopia (Kanang of Ethiopia). Two kinds of these grains are known in the English markets, one plumper than the other. One may be that imported into America from West Africa, and into England from plants introduced into Demerara, where they are thought to be a product of A. Melegueta. They resemble Pepper in their effects, but are seldom used except in veterinary practice and to give strength to spirits, wine, beer, and vinegar. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Guaiacum Wood(Guaiacum officinale)Synonym---Lignum Vitae. |
It is a mild laxative and diuretic. For tonsilitis it is given in powdered form. Specially useful for rheumatoid arthritis, also in chronic rheumatism and gout, relieving the pain and inflammation between the attacks, and lessening their recurrence if doses are continued. It acts as an acrid stimulant, increasing heat of body and circulation; when the decoction is taken hot and the body is kept warm, it acts as a diaphoretic, and if cool as a diuretic. Also largely used for secondary syphilis, skin diseases and scrofula. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Hawthorn Berry(Crataegus oxyacantha)Synonyms---May. Mayblossom. Quick. Thorn. Whitethorn. Haw. Hazels. Gazels. Halves. Hagthorn. Ladies' Meat. Bread and Cheese Tree. (French) L'épine noble (German) Hagedorn |
The Hawthorn is the badge of the Ogilvies and gets one of its commonest popular names from blooming in May. Many country villagers believe that Hawthorn flowers still bear the smell of the Great Plague of London. The tree was formerly regarded as sacred, probably from a tradition that it furnished the Crown of Thorns. The device of a Hawthorn bush was chosen by Henry VII because a small crown from the helmet of Richard III was discovered hanging on it after the battle of Bosworth, hence the saying, 'Cleve to thy Crown though it hangs on a bush.' The Hawthorn is called Crataegus Oxyacantha from the Greek kratos, meaning hardness (of the wood), oxcus (sharp), and akantha (a thorn). The German name of Hagedorn, meaning Hedgethorn, shows that from a very early period the Germans divided their land into plots by hedges; the word haw is also an old word for hedge. The name Whitethorn arises from the whiteness of its bark and Quickset from its growing as a quick or living hedge, in contrast to a paling of dead wood. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Hawthorn Flower Tops(Crataegus oxyacantha)Synonyms---May. Mayblossom. Quick. Thorn. Whitethorn. Haw. Hazels. Gazels. Halves. Hagthorn. Ladies' Meat. Bread and Cheese Tree. (French) L'épine noble (German) Hagedorn |
The Hawthorn is the badge of the Ogilvies and gets one of its commonest popular names from blooming in May. Many country villagers believe that Hawthorn flowers still bear the smell of the Great Plague of London. The tree was formerly regarded as sacred, probably from a tradition that it furnished the Crown of Thorns. The device of a Hawthorn bush was chosen by Henry VII because a small crown from the helmet of Richard III was discovered hanging on it after the battle of Bosworth, hence the saying, 'Cleve to thy Crown though it hangs on a bush.' The Hawthorn is called Crataegus Oxyacantha from the Greek kratos, meaning hardness (of the wood), oxcus (sharp), and akantha (a thorn). The German name of Hagedorn, meaning Hedgethorn, shows that from a very early period the Germans divided their land into plots by hedges; the word haw is also an old word for hedge. The name Whitethorn arises from the whiteness of its bark and Quickset from its growing as a quick or living hedge, in contrast to a paling of dead wood. | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Heather Flowers | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Hibiscus Flowers | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Hops Flowers(Humulus Lupulus) |
The origin of the name of the Hop genus, Humulus, is considered doubtful, though it has been assumed by some writers that it is derived from humus, the rich moist ground in which the plant grows. The specific name Lupulus, is derived from the Latin, lupus (a wolf), because, as Pliny explains, when produced among osiers, it strangles them by its light, climbing embraces, as the wolf does a sheep. The English name Hop comes from the Anglo-Saxon hoppan (to climb). Hops appear to have been used in the breweries of the Netherlands in the beginning of the fourteenth century. In England they were not used in the composition of beer till nearly two centuries afterwards. The liquor prepared from fermented malt formed the favourite drink of our Saxon and Danish forefathers. The beverage went by the name of Ale (the word derived from the Scandinavian öl - the Viking's drink) and was brewed either from malt alone, or from a mixture of the latter with Honey and flavoured with Heath tops, Ground Ivy, and various other bitter and aromatic herbs, such as Marjoram, Buckbean, Wormwood, Yarrow, Woodsage or Germander and Broom. They knew not, however, the ale to which Hops give both flavour and preservation. For long after the introduction of Hops, the liquor flavoured in the old manner retained the name of Ale, while the word of German and Dutch origin, Bier or Beer, was given only to that made with the newly-introduced bitter catkins. It has been stated that the planting of Hops in this country was forbidden in the reign of Henry VI, but half a century later the cultivation was introduced from Flanders, though only to a limited extent, and it did not become sufficient for the needs of the kingdom till the end of the seventeenth century. The prejudice against the use of Hops was at first great. Henry VIII forbade brewers to put hops and sulphur into ale, Parliament having been petitioned against the Hop as 'a wicked weed that would spoil the taste of the drink and endanger the people.' In the fifth year of Edward VI, however, privileges were granted to Hop growers, though in the reign of James I the plant was still not sufficiently cultivated to supply the consumption, as we find a statute of 1608 against the importation of spoiled Hops. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Horehound (Black)(Ballota nigra)Synonyms---Marrubium nigrum. Black Stinking Horehound |
It has been suggested that the name Horehound came from two Anglo-Saxon words signifying the hoary honey-yielding plant; but other authorities find other derivations. Dioscorides (like Gerard) declared that the Ballota was an antidote for the bite of a mad dog. Beaumont and Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess has a reference to this property of the plant: 'This is the clote bearing a yellow flower, And this black horehound: both are very good For sheep or shepherd bitten by a wood-Dog's venom'd tooth.' | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Horehound (White)(Marrubium vulgare)Synonym---Hoarhound |
The Romans esteemed Horehound for its medicinal properties, and its Latin name of Marrubium is said to be derived from Maria urbs, an ancient town of Italy. Other authors derive its name from the Hebrew marrob (a bitter juice), and state that it was one of the bitter herbs which the Jews were ordered to take for the Feast of Passover. The Egyptian Priests called this plant the 'Seed of Horus,' or the 'Bull's Blood,' and the 'Eye of the Star.' It was a principal ingredient in the negro Caesar's antidote for vegetable poisons. It was once regarded as an anti-magical herb. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
HorsetailSynonyms---Shave-grass. Bottle-brush. Paddock-pipes. Dutch Rushes. Pewterwort |
The ashes of the plant are considered very valuable in acidity of the stomach, dyspepsia, etc., administered in doses of 3 to 10 grains. Besides being useful in kidney and bladder trouble, a strong decoction acts as an emmenagogue; being cooling and astringent, it is of efficacy for haemorrhage, cystic ulceration and ulcers in the urinary passages. The decoction applied externally will stop the bleeding of wounds and quickly heal them, and will also reduce the swelling of eyelids. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Irish Moss | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Jasmine Flowers |
The Jasmine, or Jessamine (the name derived from the Persian Yasmin), belongs botanically to the genus Jasminum, of the natural order Oleaceae, which contains about 150 species, mostly natives of the warmer regions of the Old World. About forty of these are cultivated in our gardens. The Hindus string the flowers together as neck garlands for honoured guests. The flowers of one of the double varieties are held sacred to Vishnu and are used as votive offerings in Hindu religious ceremonies. In China JASMINUM PANICULATUM is cultivated. It is an erect shrub, valued for its flowers and known as Sien-hing-hwa, the flowers being used with those of J. Sambac, Sambac-mo-le-hwa, in the proportion of 10 lb. of the former to 30 lb. of the latter for scenting tea, 40 lb. of the mixture being required for 100 lb. of tea | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Juniper Berries(Juniperus communis)Synonyms---Genévrier. Ginepro. Enebro. Gemeiner Wachholder. |
Juniper berries take two or three years to ripen, so that blue and green berries occur on the same plant. Only the blue, ripe berries are here picked. When collected in baskets or sacks, they are laid out on shelves to dry a little, during which process they lose some of the blue bloom and develop the blackish colour seen in commerce. There is a considerable demand on the Continent for an aqueous extract of the berries called Roob, or Rob of Juniper, and the distilled oil is in this case a by-product, the berries being first crushed and macerated with water and then distilled with water and the residue in the still evaporated to a soft consistence. Much of the oil met with in commerce is obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of gin and similar products. In Sweden a beer is made that is regarded as a healthy drink. In hot countries the tree yields by incision a gum or varnish. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Kava Kava Root(Piper Methysticum)Synonyms---Ava. Intoxicating Pepper. Ava Pepper |
The natives prepare a fermented liquor from the upper portion of the rhizome and base of the stems; it is narcotic and stimulant and is drunk before important religious rites. The root of the plant chewed and mixed with the saliva, gives a hot intoxicating juice; it is mixed with pure water or the water of the coco-nut. The effect on the nerve centres is at first stimulating, then depressing, ending with paralysis of the respiratory centre. The irritant action and insolubility of the resin has lessened its use as a local anesthetic, but for over 125 years Kava root has been found valuable in the treatment of gonorrhoea both acute and chronic, vaginitis, leucorrhoea, nocturnal incontinence and other ailments of the genitourinary tract. It resembles pepper in local action. A 20 per cent oil of Kava resin in oil of Sandalwood, called gonosan, is used internally for gonorrhoea. Being a local anaesthetic it relieves pain and has an aphrodisiac effect; it has also an antiseptic effect on the urine | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lavender Flowers |
Lavender was familiar to Shakespeare, but was probably not a common plant in his time, for though it is mentioned by Spencer as 'The Lavender still gray' and by Gerard as growing in his garden, it is not mentioned by Bacon in his list of sweet-smelling plants. It is now found in every garden, but we first hear of it being cultivated in England about 1568. It must soon have become a favourite, however, for among the long familiar gardenplants which the Pilgrim Fathers took with them to their new home in America, we find the names of Lavender, Rosemary and Southernwood, though John Josselyn, in his Herbal, says that 'Lavender Cotton groweth pretty well,' but that 'Lavender is not for the Climate.' | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lemon Balm Leaf (Melissa)(Melissa officinalis)Synonyms---Sweet Balm. Lemon Balm. |
The genus Melissa is widely diffused, having representatives in Europe, Middle Asia and North America. The name is from the Greek word signifying 'bee,' indicative of the attraction the flowers have for those insects, on account of the honey they produce. It is the opinion of Pliny and Dioscorides that 'Balm, being leaves steeped in wine, and the wine drunk, and the leaves applied externally, were considered to be a certain cure for the bites of venomous beasts and the stings of scorpions. It is now recognized as a scientific fact that the balsamic oils of aromatic plants make excellent surgical dressings: they give off ozone and thus exercise anti-putrescent effects | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lemon Grass |
It owes its scent almost entirely to its chief constituent, citral, and is one of the chief sources of the citral used in the manufacture of Tonone or artificial violet perfume. It is sometimes called Oil of Verbena from its similarity to the odour of the true Verbena Oil which is rarely found in commerce. It is frequently used to adulterate Lemon Oil. Samples of the oil produced experimentally in the West Indies, Uganda, and new districts of India were examined in the laboratories of the Imperial Institute in 1911, and as a result of the recommendations made, the production of Lemongrass has been taken up on a considerable scale in Uganda | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lemon Peel(Citrus Limonum)Synonyms---Citrus medica. Citrus Limonum. Citronnier. Neemoo. Leemoo. Limoun. Limone. |
Lemon Peel yields its virtues to alcohol, water, or wine. It contains an essential oil and a bitter principle. Crystals of the glucoside Hesperidin are deposited by the evaporation of the white pulpy portion boiled in water. Diluted acids decompose it into Hesperitin and glucose | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Liquorice RootSynonyms---Liquiritia officinalis. Lycorys (thirteenth century). (Welsh) Lacris. (French) Reglisse. (German) Lacrisse. (Italian) Regolizia. |
The use of the Liquorice plant was first learnt by the Greeks from the Scythians. Theophrastus (third century B.C.), in commenting on the taste of different roots (Hist. Plant. lib. IX. c. 13), instances the sweet Scythian root which grows in the neighbourhood of the Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and is good for asthma, dry cough and all pectoral diseases. Liquorice Extract was known in the times of Dioscorides and appears to have been in common use in Germany during the Middle Ages. In 1264, Liquorice (apparently the extract, not the root) is charged in the Wardrobe Accounts of Henry IV. Saladinus, who wrote about the middle of the fifteenth century, names it among the wares kept by the Italian apothecaries and it is enumerated in a list of drugs of the City of Frankfurt, written about the year 1450. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lime FlowersSynonyms---Tilia vulgaris. Tilia intermedia. Tilia cordata. Tilia platyphylla. Linden Flowers. Linn Flowers. Common Lime. Flores Tiliae. Tilleul |
Linden Tea is much used on the Continent, especially in France, where stocks of dried lime-flowers are kept in mosthouseholds for making 'Tilleul.' The honey from the flowers is regarded as the best flavoured and the most valuable in the world. It is used exclusively in medicine and in liqueurs. If the flowers used for making the tisane are too old they may produce symptoms of narcotic intoxication | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lovage RootSynonyms---Ligusticum Levisticum (Linn.). Old English Lovage. Italian Lovage. Cornish Lovage |
Lovage was much used as a drug plant in the fourteenth century, its medicinal reputation probably being greatly founded on its pleasing aromatic odour. It was never an official remedy, nor were any extravagant claims made, as with Angelica, for its efficacy in numberless complaints. The roots and fruit are aromatic and stimulant, and have diuretic and carminative action. In herbal medicine they are used in disorders of the stomach and feverish attacks, especially for cases of colic and flatulence in children, its qualities being similar to those of Angelica in expelling flatulence, exciting perspiration and opening obstructions. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Lungwort herb(Sticta pulmonaria)Synonyms---Jerusalem Cowslip. Oak Lungs. Lung Moss. |
Its popular and Latin names seem to have been derived from the speckled appearance of the leaves resembling that of the lungs, and their use in former days was partly founded on the doctrine of signatures. The Lungwort sold by druggists to-day is not this species, but a Moss, known also as Oak Lungs and Lung Moss. The Lungwort formerly held a place in almost every garden, under the name of 'Jerusalem Cowslip'; and it was held in great esteem for its reputed medicinal qualities in diseases of the lungs. An infusion of 1 teaspoonful of the dried herb to a cup of boiling water is taken several times a day for subduing inflammation, and for its healing effect in pulmonary complaints | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Mace Blade(Myristica fragrans)Synonyms---Arillus Myristicae. Myristica officinalis. Myristica moschata. Macis. Muscadier. |
The name is derived from a mediaeval word for 'nut,' meaning 'suitable for an ointment.' The principal harvest at Bencoolen is usually in the autumn, the smaller one in early summer. The fruits, which split open when ripe, are gathered with a long-handled hook and the products are separated. The mace when dried is often sprinkled with salt water to preserve it. The medicinal properties resemble those of nutmeg, but it is principally used as a condiment. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Madder Root(Rubia tinctorum)Synonyms---Krapp. Dyer's Madder. Robbia |
Although not as a general rule employed medicinally, Madder has been reputed as effectual in amenorrhoea, dropsy and jaundice. When taken into the stomach it imparts a red colour to the milk and urine, and to the bones of animals without sensibly affecting any other tissue. The effect is observed most quickly in the bones of young animals and in those nearest to the heart. Under the impression that it might effect some change in the nervous system, it has been prescribed in rachitis (rickets), but without noticeable favourable results. Dosage, 1/2 drachm three or four times daily | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Marigold Petals(Calendula officinalis)Synonyms---Caltha officinalis. Golds. Ruddes. Mary Gowles. Oculus Christi. Pot Marigold. Marygold. Fiore d'ogni mese. Solis Sponsa |
It was well known to the old herbalists as a garden-flower and for use in cookery and medicine. Dodoens-Lyte (A Niewe Herball, 1578) says: 'It hath pleasant, bright and shining yellow flowers, the which do close at the setting downe of the sunne, and do spread and open againe at the sunne rising.' Linnaeus assigned a narrower limit to the expansion of its flowers, observing that they are open from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon. This regular expansion and closing of the flowers attracted early notice, and hence the plant acquired the names of solsequia and solis sponsa. There is an allusion to this peculiarity in the poems of Rowley: 'The Mary-budde that shooteth (shutteth) with the light.' And in the Winter's Tale: 'The Marigold that goes to bed wi' th' sun, And with him rises weeping.' It has been cultivated in the kitchen garden for the flowers, which are dried for broth, and said to comfort the heart and spirits. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Mate Tea(Ilex paraguayensis)Common Names: Yebra maté, maté, Paraguay tea, yerba. |
Charles Darwin called it "the ideal stimulant" and is seen as hahaving the ability to relieve fatigue and stimulate mental and physical energy. It has also been called an excellent "blood purifier". | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Meadowsweet Herb(Spiraea Ulmaria) |
Meadowsweet, water-mint, and vervain were three herbs held most sacred by the Druids. It is one of the fifty ingredients in a drink called 'Save,' mentioned in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, in the fourteenth century being called Medwort, or Meadwort, i.e. the mead or honey-wine herb, and the flowers were often put into wine and beer. It is still incorporated in many herb beers. Aromatic, astringent, diuretic, and sub-tonic. It is a valuable medicine in diarrhoea, imparting to the bowels some degree of nourishment, as well as of astringency. It is also considered of some service as a corrector of the stomach, and not without some power as an alterative, and is frequently used in affections of the blood. It is a good remedy in strangury, dropsy, etc., and almost a specific in children's diarrhoea. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Mistletoe(Viscum album)Common names: European mistletoe, all-heal, birdlime, devil's fuge. |
This plant acts on the circulatory system, first raising blood pressure and then lowering it below the iniaial level and speeding up the pulse. A powerful hallucenogen, you should be cautious when ingesting this plant. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Motherwort(Leonurus cardiaca)Common names: Lion's ear, lion's tail, Roman motherwort, throwwort. |
Most commonly used as a heart tonic and central nervous system relaxant. It has also been given for menopausal disorders, shortness of breath and many other conditions. Can cause dermatitis if living herb touched. An excellent relaxant, this is a beautiful herbal downer. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Mountain Ash (Rowan) BerriesSynonym---Rowan Tree |
The ripe berries furnish an acidulous and astringent gargle for sore throats and inflamed tonsils. For their anti-scorbutic properties, they have been used in scurvy. The astringent infusion is used as a remedy in haemorrhoids and strangury. The fruit is a favourite food of birds. A delicious jelly is made from the berries, which is excellent with cold game or wild fowl, and a wholesome kind of perry or cider can also be made from them. In Northern Europe they are dried for flour, and when fermented yield a strong spirit. The Welsh used to brew an ale from the berries, the secret of which is now lost . | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Mugwort(Artemisia Vulgaris)Synonyms---Felon Herb. St. John's Plant. Cingulum Sancti Johannis |
In the Middle Ages, the plant was known as Cingulum Sancti Johannis, it being believed that John the Baptist wore a girdle of it in the wilderness. There were many superstitions connected with it: it was believed to preserve the wayfarer from fatigue, sunstroke, wild beasts and evil spirits generally: a crown made from its sprays was worn on St. John's Eve to gain security from evil possession, and in Holland and Germany one of its names is St. John's Plant, because of the belief, that if gathered on St. John's Eve it gave protection against diseases and misfortunes. It has stimulant and slightly tonic properties, and is of value as a nervine and emmenagogue, having also diuretic and diaphoretic action. Its chief employment is as an emmenagogue, often in combination with Pennyroyal and Southernwood. It is also useful as a diaphoretic in the commencement of cold. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Oak Bark(Quercus robur)Synonym---Tanner's Bark |
The Common, or British Oak, for many centuries the chief forest tree of England, is intimately bound up with the history of these islands from Druid times. A spray of oak was for long engraved on one side of our sixpences and shillings, but is now superseded by the British lion. The Oak, although widely distributed over Europe, is regarded as peculiarly English. The astringent effects of the Oak were well known to the Ancients, by whom different parts of the tree were used, but it is the bark which is now employed in medicine. Its action is slightly tonic, strongly astringent and antiseptic. It has a strong astringent bitter taste, and its qualities are extracted both by water and spirit. The odour is slightly aromatic. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) raw or powder |
Orris Root Powder |
The drug was formerly employed in the treatment of bronchitis and chronic diarrhoea, and was considered a useful remedyin dropsy. The internal dose is stated to be from 5 to 15 grains. The starch of the rhizome was formerly reckoned medicinal. The dried powder is said to act as a good snuff, useful to excite sneezing to relieve cases of congested headache. Pieces of the dried root are occasionally chewed for the purpose of overcoming a disagreeable breath. Oil of Orris, has an intense and extremely delicate odour of the fresh Violet and commands a high price. Orris has the power of strengthening the odour of other fragrant bodies and is used as a fixative in perfumery. Orris root, mixed with Anise, was used in England as a perfume for linen as early as 1480, under which date it is mentioned in the Wardrobe accounts of Edward IV. | £4.55/$9 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Orange FlowersSynonyms---Citrus vulgaris. Citrus Bigaradia. Citrus aurantium amara. Bigaradier. Bigarade Orange. Bitter Orange. Seville Orange. (Sweet) Portugal Orange. China Orange. Citrus dulcis. |
The flowers yield by distillation an essential oil known as 'Neroli,' which forms one of the chief constituents of Eau-de-Cologne. A pomade and an oil are also obtained from them by maceration. Orange Flower Oil as obtained from pomatum, slightly modified with other extracts, can be employed to make 'Sweet Pea' and 'Magnolia' perfumes, the natural odours of which it slightly resembles. On the Continent an infusion of dried flowers is used as a mild nervous stimulant. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Passion Flower(Passiflora incarnata)Common names: May Pops, passion vine, purple passion flower. |
Commonly used for nervous disorders, hysteria, headache and other stress-induced conditions. As such, it is a great seditive but should be taken internally under medical supervision. According to the folks at Gnostic garden, this is the only passion flower known to contain harmine and harmaline as well as the usually found harman. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Patchouli Leaves(Pogostemon patchouli)Synonym---Pucha-pat |
LIMITED STOCKS Its use is said to cause sometimes loss of appetite and sleep and nervous attacks. The Chinese, Japanese and Arabs believe it to possess prophylactic properties. | £10.00/$16.00 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Pennyroyal(Mentha pulegium)Common names: True Pennyroyal |
Pennyroyal is a herb with a long pharmaseudical history - including being used in the 19th centruy to induce perspiration or menstruation. It was also taken back then with brewer's yeast to induce abortion and thus should not be ingested or smoked during pregnancy. The folks at the Gnostic Garden say pennyroyal was a known ingredient of the entheogenic kykeon potion along with ergot and drunk during the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece. Considered psychoactive in its own right, this plant interestingly enough has a history of use as a migraine treatment in England. Peruvian shamans also burn this plant as an offering to Pachamama. | £2.25/$3.80 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Poke Root(Phytolacca decandra)Synonyms---Phytolacca Root. Phytolaccae Radix. Phytolacca Berry. Phytolaccae Bacca. Phytolacca Vulgaris. Phytolacca Americana. Blitum Americanum. Branching Phytolacca. Phytolaque. Garget. Pigeon Berry. Méchoacan du Canada. Bear's Grape. Poke Weed. Raisin d'Amérique. Red-ink Plant. American Spinach. Skoke. Crowberry. Jalap. Cancer-root. American Nightshade. Pocan or Cokan. Coakum. Chongras. Morelle à Grappes. Herbe de la Laque. Amerikanische scharlachbeere. Kermesbeere. Virginian Poke. Poke Berry. |
A slow emetic and purgative with narcotic properties. As an alterative it is used in chronic rheumatism and granular conjunctivitis. As an ointment, in the proportion of a drachm to the ounce, it is used in psora, tinea capitis, favus and sycosis, and other skin diseases, causing at first smarting and heat. The slowness of action and the narcotic effects that accompany it render its use as an emetic inadvisable. It is used as a cathartic in paralysis of the bowels. Headaches of many sources are benefited by it, and both lotion and tincture are used in leucorrhoea. Authorities differ as to its value in cancer. Great relief towards the close of a difficult case of cancer of the uterus was obtained by an external application of 3 OZ. of Poke Root and 1 OZ. of Tincture used in the strength of 1 tablespoonful to 3 pints of tepid water for bathing the part. It is also stated to be of undoubted value as an internal remedy in cancer of the breast. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Poppy Petals(Eschscholzia californica)Common name: California Poppy |
According to a few sources and contrary to what I've always been told, the flower petals contain the mildly narcotic alkaloids protopine and altocryptine used by Californian Indians to treat toothache much as cocaine was in the Victorian era. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Raspberry Leaf(Rubus Idaeus)Synonyms --Raspbis. Hindberry. Bramble of Mount Ida |
It was known to the Ancients, and
Linnaeus retained the classic name of Ida, with which it was associated by Dioscorides. It was called in Greek Batos
Idaia, and in Latin Rubus Idaea, the Bramble of Mount Ida. Gerard calls it Raspis or Hindberry, and Hindberry is a
derivation of the Saxon name Hindbeer.
"Twas only to hear the yorling sing, And pu' the crawflower round the spring, The scarlet hep and the hindberrie, And the nut that hang frae the hazel tree.' |
£1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Rosehip Fruits Whole | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Rose Buds Pink | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Rose Buds Yellow | £3/$5.85 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Rose Petals Red | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Rue(Ruta graveolens)Synonyms---Herb-of-Grace. Herbygrass. Garden Rue |
At one time the holy water was sprinkled from brushes made of Rue at the ceremony usually preceding the Sunday
celebration of High Mass, for which reason it is supposed it was named the Herb of Repentance and the Herb of Grace.
'There's rue for you and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.'
Gerard tells us: 'the garden Rue, which is better than the wild Rue for physic's use, grows most profitably, as Dioscorides said, under a fig tree.' But this is, probably, only a reference, originally, to the fact that it prefers a sheltered position. |
£1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Sage(Salvia officinalis)Synonyms---(Old English) Sawge. Garden Sage. Red Sage. Broad-leaved White Sage. Narrow-leaved White Sage. Salvia salvatrix. |
The name of the genus, Salvia, is derived from the Latin salvere, to be saved, in reference to the curative properties of the plant, which was in olden times celebrated as a medicinal herb. This name was corrupted popularly to Sauja and Sauge (the French form), in Old English, 'Sawge,' which has become our present-day name of Sage. | £1.40/$2.70 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Sanderswood (Red Sandalwood) Chips | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Sanderswood (Red Sandalwood) Powder | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
St. John's Wort(Hypericum perforatum)Common Names: Amber, goatweed, Johnswort, Klanath weed, Tipton weed. |
This natural downer has been used to treat namy illnesses and disorders such as insomnia and depression. Ingesting this herb can cause photosensitivity in skin (sensitive to light) and this herb has sometimes poisoned livestock (so thats why cows are always so laid back...). The folks at the Gnostic Garden sat that the MAOI properties of this plant are currently in doubt. | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Saw Palmetto Berries(Sarenoa serrulata)Synonyms---Sabal. Sabal serrulata. |
£2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Skullcap(Scutellaria lateriflora)Common names: Blue skullcap, blue pimpernel, helmet flower, hoodwort, mad-dog-weed, side-flowering skullcap |
This herb is excellent for treating conditions such as excitibility, insomnia, and general restlessness. American Indians used to use the plant to promote menstruation (again - not to be ingested or smoked while pregnant), and it was repured to be effective against rabies (or make you just not care anymore... but the records aren't complete *wink*) | £6.15/$10.45 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Southern Wood Herb(Artemisia Abrotanum)Synonyms---Old Man. Lad's Love. Boy's Love. Appleringie |
Culpepper says: 'Dioscorides saith that the seed bruised, heated in warm water and drunk helpeth those that are troubled in the cramps or convulsions of the sinews or the sciatica. The same taken in wine is an antidote and driveth away serpents and other venomous creatures, as also the smell of the herb being burnt doth the same. The oil thereof annointed on the backbone before the fits of agues come, preventeth them: it taketh away inflammation of the eyes, if it be put with some part of a wasted quince or boiled in a few crumbs of bread, and applied. Boiled in barley meal it taketh away pimples . . . that rise in the face or other parts of the body.' | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Sarsparilla Root | £4.55/$9 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Soapwort Root(Saponaria officinalis)Synonyms---Soaproot. Bouncing Bet. Latherwort. Fuller's Herb. Bruisewort. Crow Soap. Sweet Betty. Wild Sweet William |
A stout herbaceous perennial with a stem growing in the writer's garden to 4 or 5 feet high. Leaves lanceolate, slightly elliptical, acute, smooth, 2 or 3 inches long and 1/3 inch wide. Large pink flowers, often double in paniculate fascicles; calyx cylindrical, slightly downy; five petals, unguiculate; top of petals linear, ten stamens, two styles; capsule oblong, one-celled, flowering from July till September. No odour, with a bitter and slightly sweet taste, followed by a persistent pungency and a numbing sensation in the mouth. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Star Aniseed(Illicuim verum)Synonyms---Chinese Anise. Aniseed Stars. Badiana |
Star Anise is so named from the stellate form of its fruit. It is often chewed in small quantities after each meal to promote digestion and sweeten the breath. | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Stone Root(Collinsonia Canadensis)Synonyms---Horseweed. Richweed. Richleaf. Knob-Root. Knobweed. Horsebalm. Hardback. Heal-all. Oxbalm. Knot-Root. Baume de Cheval. Guérit-tout. |
The plant has a four-sided stem, from 1 to 4 feet in height, and bears large, greenish-yellow flowers. It grows in moist woods and flowers from July to September. The rhizome is brown-grey, about 4 inches long, knobby, and very hard. The whole plant has a strong, disagreeable odour and a pungent and spicy taste. The chief virtue of the plant is in the root, which should always be used fresh. The name is derived from its discoverer, Peter Collinson. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
Sweet Violet Leaf(Viola odorata)Synonyms---Sweet-Scented Violet |
Violet is the diminutive form of the Latin Viola, the Latin form of the Greek name Ione. There is a legend that when Jupiter changed his beloved Io into a white heifer for fear of Juno's jealousy, he caused these modest flowers to spring forth from the earth to be fitting food for her, and he gave them her name. Another derivation of the word Violet is said to be from Vias (wayside). | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Tansy Herb | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Tonka (Tonquin)Beans | £3.85/$7.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Tormentil Root | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Thuja (Tree of Life) | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Valerian Root(Valeriana officinalis)Common names: Fragrant Valerian, allheal, English valerian, German valerian, great wild valerian, heliotrope, setwall, vandal root, Vermont valerian, wild valerian. |
Fragrant valerian (and trust me - it *is* fragrant!) is used widely as a pain killer and to treat many nervous disorders such as hysteria, neurasthenia and is an effective sedative. Apparently it is a cat psychoactive. Contains actinidine - and large doses taken over prolonged periods of time will cause poisoning (I've seen this myself in a client) Please be careful. | £2.82/$4.80 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Vanilla Pods (whole) | £1.60/$3.05 each | |
Vervain(Verbena officinalis)Common names: European Vervain, Enchanter's plant, herb of the cross, holy herb, Juno's tears, pigeon's grass, pigeonweed, simpler's joy, vervain. |
It is said that an infustion can be used to help heal all wounds. From the long list of names associated with it, we can tell it has a long history with many cultures. According to the folks at the Gnostic Garden, vervain has a long history of medicinal use in Europe, also said to avert sorcery and witchcraft, held in high veneration by Druids. Entheogenic use has not been postulated but this ancient sacred herb is probably well worth investigating. Interestingly verbenol can be used in cannabinoid synthesis | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| White Poplar Bark | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
White Willow Bark(Salix alba)Synonym---European Willow |
A large tree with a rough greyish bark, the twigs being brittle at the base; the leaves are pubescent on both surfaces and finely serrulate; it hybridizes with other species of Salix, it flowers in April and May and the bark is easily separable throughout the summer; flowers and leaves appear coincidently from March to June | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Wild Cherry Bark | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Wild Lettuce | £2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Wild Thyme | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Witch Hazel(Hamamelis Virginiana) |
Of the leaves (official in the United States Pharmacopoeia), tannic and gallic acids, an unknown bitter principle and some volatile oil. The bark contains tannin, partly amorphous and partly crystal, gallic acid, a physterol, resin, fat and other bitter and odorous bodies. | £2.60/$5.10 per 30g (over 1 oz) leaves or bark |
| Wood Betony | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
| Woodruff | £1.60/$3.05 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Wormwood Tops(Artemisia absinthium)Common names: Absinthe, Wormwood |
This was the famous ingredient of the now illegal 'Absinthe' liqueur - shown in the recent Dracula movie (Dracula and Mina drank it in the club before he turned her tears into diamonds). Pure wormwood oil is a strong poison, and therefore excessive use of the plant is also poisonous. Apparently wormwood tea can be used as a local anesthetic when applied to relieve pains. According to Gnostic Garden folks, contains psychoactive thujones thought to bind to the same receptor as THC. Several species of Artemisia are also smoked "for hallucinations" by some Indian tribes. | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
| Yarrow Herb | £1.85/$3.50 per 30g (over 1 oz) | |
Yellow Dock Root(Rumex crispus)Synonym---Curled Dock |
The name Dock is applied to a widespread tribe of broad-leaved wayside weeds, having roots possessing astringent
qualities united in some with a cathartic principle, rendering them valuable as substitutes for Rhubarb, a plant of the same
family.
Although now, in common with the Sorrels, assigned to the genus Rumex, the Docks were formerly ranked as members of the genus Lapathum, this name being derived from the Greek word, lapazein (to cleanse), an allusion to the medicinal virtues of these plants as purgatives, the word still surviving in the name of one of the species, Rumex Hydrolapathum. |
£2.35/$4.65 per 30g (over 1 oz) |
New Moon Occult Shop
