The physician does not learn everything he needs to know and master at school; from time to time, he must consult old women, gypsies, magi...

Bear's Breech  - Brank Ursine.  Acanthus (from the Greek akanthos, ake meaning thorn, anthos meaning flowers) is a generic term for a va...

False Hellebore - Spring/Eye Pheasant's Adonis Ox-eye.  The name comes from the mythology of Adonis, who was slain by a wild boar and wh...

Maidenhair Fern - Venus Hair   Because the leaf repels water and the plant's native habitat is a wet environment, the generic name Adian...

Calamus - Myrtle/Sweet Flag/Sweet Sedge Flag.  Acorus calamus was an ancient East Asian plant that is also referenced in the Bible in Exodus...

Wolfsbane/Monkshood/Blue Rocket  The ancient Chinese used this deadly plant as an arrow poison, and its generic name derives from the Greek ...

Wound wort/Weed/Carpenter's Milfoil  This plant has been linked with wound healing and blood-flow control since ancient times, thus the ...

Gum Arabic  - Acacia Gum /Gummi acaciae  In the seventeenth century B.C., Egyptians imported gum from the Gulf of Aden, which they named Kam...

Catechu - Black Cutch/Kutch.  In the sixteenth century, this plant was known as Cacho or Kat and was a popular export from India to China, A...

Silver Fir- This conifer was originally the source of 'Strassburg Turpentine,' which Belon first mentioned in De Arboribus coniferis...

Bergamot Mint - Eau de Cologne Mint/ Orange Mint In this case, Mentha is the genus and piperita is the species; (Ehr.) is the name of the bo...

Table Of Contents Herbalism was formerly believed to consist nearly entirely of the lighthearted study of early written bo...