Posted inFood & Cooking

How to Use Cayenne

The name cayenne or capsicum comes from a Greek word meaning to bite because of the hot pungent taste and properties of cayenne pepper. It is indige­nous to Zanzibar, Mexico…

How to Use Cowslip

This pretty cousin of the primrose grows on chalk and limestone grassland and downs throughout Europe and Britain. While it was once a common feature of the countryside in spring,…

How to Use Cranesbill

There are many different varieties of wild geranium. American cranesbill is an attractive hardy perennial with rose-purple flowers and mottled leaves, found growing wild in woodlands throughout North America. In…

How to Use Eucalyptus

The eucalyptus is an attractive evergreen tree with bluish-green leathery leaves which are full of glands containing a fragrant volatile oil. It is indigenous to Australia and Tasmania where it…

How to Use Evening Primrose

Evening primrose is a tall elegant plant with large fragrant cup-shaped yellow flowers that generally open at dusk (or on very cloudy days), attracting the night-flying moths and insects which…

How to Use Feverfew

Feverfew is a pretty member of the daisy family, Compositae. Though now in the genus Tanacetum, it was previously in another Compositae genus, Chrysanthemum, (the others are Matricaria and Pyrethrum).…

How to Use Gentian

Gentian is a large perennial herb indigenous to cen­tral and southern Europe and Asia Minor. It is a highly ornamental plant with yellow star-shaped flow­ers. Yellow gentian will grow in…

How to Use Ginseng

Ginseng is familiar to many as a wonderful tonic to increase energy and vitality, improve mental and physical performance and protect against the effects of stress. The name ginseng is…

How to Use Greater Celandine

Greater celandine is a member of the poppy family and shows many of the poppy's actions in healing. It is indigenous to Europe and is remarkably resilient, flourishing where other…
Posted inGeneral How To's

How to Use Hawthorn

This attractive member of the rose family has sweet-scented snow white blossoms covering hedge­rows in spring as a herald to summer, and bright red berries in autumn. Almost all parts…

How to Use Honeysuckle

Herbal remedy Twelve species of honeysuckle, out of about a hun-dred, are used medicinally. The leaves and flower buds are rich in salicylic acid, meaning that they can be used…

How to Use Horse-chestnut

The magnificent horse-chestnut tree with its pyrami­dal flowers in white, pink or yellow, is a native of India and was brought to Europe in the mid-17th century. It is also…

How to Use Jasmine

Herbal remedy Jasmine has an affinity for women and the female reproductive system and has been used in healing women for many centuries. In Ayurvedic medicine jasmine is used for…
Posted inGeneral How To's

How to Use Lady’s Mantle

The name Alchemilla derives from the Arabic word alkemelych meaning alchemy, for this attractive plant with its elegant foliage and lacy yellow flowers was a favourite of the medieval alchemists.…

How to Use Lady’s Slipper

There are 50 species of Cypripedium, one of the most beautiful of the wild orchids, which in the past could be found in Europe, Asia and North America. Lady's slipper…