Botanical Name: Ginkgo biloba. Other Common Names: Ginkgo, duck’s foot tree, maidenhair, icho (Japanese), eunhaeng (Korean), arbre aux quarante écus (French), yinxing (Chinese), bai guo (seeds) and yin guo ye (leaves) (Chinese). Habitat: Ginkgo biloba is found growing wild around Zhejiang in Eastern China and in the Tian Mu Shan Reserve. It is also cultivated […]
Medicinal Herb Profiles
Ginger Root – Health Benefits and Side Effects
Botanical Name: Zingiber officinale. Other Common Names: Jamaican ginger, Indian Ginger, gan-jiang, sheng-jiang, African ginger, black ginger, zingiber officinale. Description and Habitat: The ginger plant is an erect plant that grows from one to three feet tall. It is a tropical plant found in East Asia and Australia. India and China are the largest suppliers […]
Gentian – Health Benefits and Side Effects
Botanical Name: Gentiana lutea, Gentiana scabra Gentiana acaulis L. Gentiana purpurea, Gentiana pannoica, Gentiana punctata and Gentiana acaulis are smaller European gentians with similar medicinal properties and are used arbitrarily with each other and with Gentiana lutea. Other Common Names: Yellow and pale gentian, bitter root, feltwort, bitterwort, gall weed, stemless gentian (Gentiana acaulis L.) […]
Garlic – Side Effects and Health Benefits
Botanical Name: Allium sativum. Other Common Names Garlick Knoblauch Ajo Ail Aglio Thum Suen Tau Suan Knoflook, Garleag Shum, Alho Chesnok Habitat Garlic belongs to the same family or group of plants as the onion. The plant has been cultivated for such a long time that much of its origins have become lost. There has […]
Garcinia Cambogia – Health Benefits and Side Effects
Botanical Name: Garcinia cambogia, Garcinia gummi-gutta. Other Common Names: Brindle berry, brindall berry, garcinia, malabar tamarind, hydroxycitric acid (HCA), citrin, gambooge, gorikapuli, uppagi, garcinia kola, mangosteen oil tree. The name malabar tamarind can be misleading since it is often confused with tamarind (Tamarindus indica), which belongs to the Fabaceae family (the pea family). Habitat: India […]
Galangal Root – Health Benefits, Therapeutic Uses and Side Effects
Botanical Name: Alpinia officinarum. The medical applications of galangal are in many ways the same as its close relative ginger. It is a bitter herb that is used to promote digestion and stimulate appetite and production of digestive fluids. The herb is therefore used to treat anorexia, indigestion (dyspepsia), colic and stomach ache. It is also used […]
Flaxseed – Health Benefits and Side Effects
Botanical Name: Linum usitatissimum. Other Common Names: Linseed, chih-ma, common flax, flax, flax weed, lint bells, toad flax, uma, winterlien. Habitat: Flax is thought to have originated in Egypt and was found from the Mediterranean to India. However, it is one of the oldest cultivated plants known and has been found during the excavation of […]
Feverfew – Side Effects and Health Benefits
Botanical Name: Tanacetum parthenium. Other Common Names: Featherfew, featherfoil, flirtwort, bachelor’s buttons, bride’s buttons, febrifuge plant, pyrethrum, wild chamomile, midsummer daisy, camomille grande (French), altamisa (Spanish), reunuspäivänkakkara (Finnish), Mutterkraut (German), matrem (Danish). Habitat: Feverfew is native to southeastern Europe, but is found throughout Europe, Australia, and North America today. This herbaceous plant prefers rich, well-drained […]
Fenugreek Seeds – Side Effects and Benefits
Botanical Name: Trigonella foenum-graecum. The scientific Genus name “Trigonella” comes from the Latin word “trigonus” meaning triangular, referring to the flower’s shape. The species Latin name “Foenum-graecum” means “Greek hay” due to the plant’s former use in Greece as animal fodder. Fenugreek is one of the oldest medicinal plants known to man and has been […]
Fennel – Health Benefits and Side Effects
Botanical Name of Fennel: Foeniculum vulgare. Other Common Names: Large fennel, sweet fennel, wild fennel, sweet cumin, finnochio, fänkål (Swedish), hinojo (Spanish), Fenchel (German), fennikel (Danish), hui-hsiang (Chinese), fenouil (French), fennika (Icelandic). Habitat: Fennel is circumpolar (that is, can be found all over the globe). It is most often found in dry stony calcareous soils […]