Botanical Name for Fumitory: Fumaria officinalis. One of the plant’s English common name “earth smoke” is a direct translation of the old Latin name of the plant, “fumes terrae”. It refers to the shape and color the plant’s gray-blue haze foliage which can from afar resemble smoke rising from the ground. Other Common Names: Common […]
Medicinal Herb Profiles
Pheasant’s Eye Herb Uses and Toxicity
Botanical Name: Adonis vernalis. The plant genus that pheasant’s eye belongs to is named after Adonis, a young man of great beauty which according to Greek mythology was loved by the goddess Aphrodite. When he was killed by a wild boar it caused Aphrodite great sorrow and according to legend, her tears were transformed into […]
Polypody Root – Medicinal Applications
Botanical Name: Polypodium vulgare. The plant’s genus name Polypodium derives from the Greek words “poly” meaning many, and “padus” meaning foot referring to the richly branched roots (rhizomes). Other Common Names: Common polydody, polypod, polypody root, adder’s fern, brake root, female fern, oak fern, rock brake, rock polypod, sweet fern, golden maidenhair fern, polipodio (Spanish), […]
White Dead Nettle Uses for Medicinal Purposes
Botanical Name: Lamium album. Other Common Names: Blind nettle, stingless nettle, archangel, white nettle, ortiga muerta (Spanish), lamier blanc (French), Weisse Taubnessel (German), valkopeippi (Finnish), døvnælde (Danish), døvnesle (Norwegian), vitplister (Swedish), ljósatvítönn (Icelandic). Habitat: White dead nettle is native to most of Europe and Central and North Asia. It has also been introduced and become […]
Orach Uses and Benefits
Botanical Name: Atriplex hortensis. There exist numerous cultivars of orach. The most common are red mountain spinach or red orach (Atriplex hortensis var. rubra), a cultivar with deep beetroot-red leaves and flowers. Other Common Names: Garden orache, arrach, garden arrach, mountain spinach, butter leaves, French spinach, armuelle (Spanish), arroche des jardins (French), Gartenmelde (German), tarhamaltsa […]
Ragwort – Traditional Uses and Toxicity
Botanical Name: Senecio jacobaea. Other Common Names: Common ragwort, mare’s fart, tansy ragwort, ragweed, stinking willie, stinking nanny, dog standard, staggerwort, stammerwort, cankerwort, cushag, hierba de santiago (Spanish), herbe-de-saint-jacques, cinéraire (French), Jacobs-Greiskraut (German), eng-brandbæger (Danish), landøyda (Norwegian), stånds (Swedish). Habitat: Ragwort is Native to Europe, North Africa, Caucasus and Western Asia. The plant has been […]
Rock Samphire Uses in Herbal Medicine
Botanical Name: Crithmum maritimum. It should not be confused with golden samphire (Inula crithmoides) a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae). Other Common Names: Samphire, sea samphire, sea fennel, rock fennel, crest marine, hinojo marino (Spanish), fenouil de mer (French), Meerfenchel (German), søfennikel (Danish), sanktpeterskjerm (Norwegian), saltmärke (Swedish). Habitat: Rock samphire can be found around […]
Cnidium Herb Uses and Therapeutic Benefits
Botanical Name: Cnidium monnieri. Cnidium monnieri should not be confused with Bacopa monneri or Cnidium officinale. Other Common Names: Monnier’s snowparsley, susangja (Korean), jashõshi (Japanese), she chuang zi (Chinese), kinesisk brændeskærm (Danish), monnierslirekjeks (Norwegian). Habitat: The plant is native to China, Vietnam, Laos, Siberia and Eastern Europe. It prefers areas in full sun or half […]
Northern Dock – A Medicinal Herb
Botanical Name of Northern Dock: Rumex longifolius. Other Common Names: Dooryard dock, Gemüse-Ampfer (German), rumex à longues feuilles (French), gårdsskräppa (Swedish), by-skræppe (Danish), njoli (Icelandic), høymol (Norwegian) hevonhierakka (Finnish). Habitat: Northern dock is native to Europe (including Britain) and Western and central Asia. It has been introduced to North America. The plant thrives best in […]
Lamb’s Quarters – Health Benefits and Medicinal Applications
Botanical Name of Lamb’s Quarters: Chenopodium album. The Latin genus name Chenopodium derives from the words “cheno”, which means goose and “podium”, which means foot, and refers to the resemblance the leaves of some of the Chenopodium species have to geese feet. The species name album means white and refers to the white hairy coating […]