originally posted: December 30, 2002 | by chelsie

Various species of holly (Ilex Linnaeus) have been used medicinally since ancient times. Romans cultivated holly (Ilex aquifolium Linnaeus) in their gardens. Pliny the Elder stated, "A mixture of crushed holly-leaves and salt is good for diseases of the joints, while holly-berries are beneficial for menstruation pains, stomach disorders, dysentery and cholera. Taken in wine the berries arrest diarrhea. If the boiled root is applied to the skin it extracts embedded objects, and it is extremely useful for dislocations and swellings." (Natural History, trans John F. Healy, 1991) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 23, 2002 | by chelsie

In ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia took place during the time of the winter solstice. Saturnalia was a time of high spirits and gift-giving. Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to Gallus mentioning, "When I retire to this suite I feel as if I have left my house altogether...especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the roof resounds with festive cries in the holiday freedom, for I am not disturbing my household's merrymaking nor they my work." (Letters of the Younger Pliny, trans. Betty Radice, 1969) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 16, 2002 | by chelsie

In the old herbals, plants were classified more by their medicinal uses than actual genetic relationships. Frequently both medicinal use and relationship went hand-in-hand. Plants like the spiderworts were used to treat spider bites and the spiderworts of John Gerard's day (late 1500s) were plants now classified as asphodels. It is odd that John Parkinson, physician to King James I, 'classified' the Virginian spiderwort as a spiderwort since the plant has no apparent affinities with the European plants. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 9, 2002 | by chelsie

The dog's banes (Apocynum Linnaeus species) are native to North America. The name Apocynum comes from the ancient Greek, apokynon; apo- meaning away or from and kynos, dog. In Europe, the ancient name was applied to plants in the genus, Aconitum, the monkshoods. The American dog's banes contain cardioactive glycosides present in the milky sap and concentrated within the roots. During the 1800s, the sap was used to treat dropsy. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 2, 2002 | by chelsie

Cattails (Typha Linnaeus) are cosmopolitan--the estimated ten to fifteen species are found in temperate and tropical wetlands worldwide. Typhe was the name given to cattails in ancient Greece. Cattails are considered one of the first plants utilized by humans. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 25, 2002 | by chelsie

Poma Amoris, the apple of love, was introduced to Europe in the mid 1500s. John Gerard grew red and yellow varieties by 1597. Gerard was suspect of the fruit for he stated, "In Spaine and those hot Regions they...eat the Apples prepared and boiled with pepper, salt, and oile: but they yield very little nourishment to the bodie, and the same nought and corrupt." (The Herbal, 1633 ed.) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 18, 2002 | by chelsie

When explorers and settlers arrived on the American continents, they found natives with centuries of horticultural expertise and food plants already long domesticated. Among the many food plants were the pepos, fleshy berries with hard rinds--squash, gourds, and pumpkins. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 11, 2002 | by chelsie

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Schultz-Bip.) is native to southeastern Europe and the Caucasian mountains. As a medicinal, it was introduced in northern Europe, the Americas, and Australia where it has escaped cultivation and naturalized. Feverfew has previously been classified in the genera, Chrysanthemum and Pyrethrum; but in the old herbals, it was called Matricaria. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 4, 2002 | by chelsie

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare Linnaeus) is a strongly flavored member of the Lamiaceae or mint family. It is native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia, and has become a nuisance species in Australia and North America. The plant spreads easily and is frequently found along roads and in fields and pastures. Horehound's medicinal use dates back to Rome and Egypt. Gray's Manual of Botany (1950, reprint 1989) suggests that Marrubium is derived from the ancient Hebrew marrob meaning 'a bitter juice'. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 28, 2002 | by chelsie

Legends of little people are found in numerous folklores around the world--leprechauns, brownies, gnomes, and dwarves. American Native tribes also had stories of little people. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 21, 2002 | by chelsie

The common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis Linnaeus) [ee noth' er a bi en' is] is a highly variable, 'weedy' native of North America. The fragrant yellow flowers are ephemeral--opening in the evening and withering orange-brown by mid-morning the following day. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 14, 2002 | by chelsie

The Romans cultivated and used the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum Linnaeus) [pap' a ver som nif' er um] to treat insomnia. "The calyx (sepals) of the cultivated white poppy is taken in wine to induce sleep....A sleep-inducing drug is also obtained from the dark poppy, by making incisions in the stalk when the buds are forming...or when the tree [plant] is dropping its blossoms...." (Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book XX, trans. John Healy) [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 7, 2002 | by chelsie

Pliny the Elder wrote of elaterium in his chapters on materia medica (medicinal materials). "There is a variety of cucumber that grows wild...." (Natural History, Chapter XX, pre-79 CE, trans. John Healy) Pliny's "cucumin silvestrem", source of elaterium, was the squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Richard). [Click here to read more...]