Herbs

Most people think at once of the jars and boxes of dried herbs, sold in all supermarkets. Gift shops also sell them in matching sets with decorative labels. Then almost every-one is aware that herbs provide scent. Soaps, perfumes and powders have pictures of fern, lavender or lily of the valley on their wrappers.
Among the hundreds of plants which make the world smell sweeter is garden mint. The most usual species is called spearmint. Like horseradish it is grown on a large scale and sold in bottles as a sauce for meat. But peppermint is more important commercially. It contains menthol, oil which flavours delicious tooth-rotting chocolates, sweets and gums. It also adds a special tang to some brands of cigarettes.
Other smokers have a taste for "herbal" tobacco, made from the dried leaves of coltsfoot, betony and eyebright. But all tobacco is made from dried leaves

Cures and curses

Most people are also aware that herbs were once used as medicine. Probably they think of these old remedies as part of a vanished rural way of life. White-coated chemists in gleaming laboratories have made them un-necessary. The truth is that herbal doctors still treat patients successfully. Moreover the great drug companies depend on plants for many of their cures, from the menthol that clears a blocked nose, to the morphine that kills the pain of a serious illness.
The ability of herbs to kill or cure seems half magical even to the rational mind of modern man. It is not therefore surprising that knowledge of the power of plants has always been linked with the witch, witchdoctor and priest. Even the names of the herbs they used sound menacing: "hemlock, henbane, adder's tongue, nightshade, moonwort, leppardsbane". These poetic lines from a 16th century play list some of the deadliest poisons in the hedgerow. Bane is an old word which means, "That which causes ruin or woe" and what was bad for the hens and leopards certainly did no good to a witch's enemy.

The meaning of the word

A word with so many uses is hard to define. Herba was the Latin for grass. In this book the word herb is used to describe any plant whose root, stem, leaf, flower or seed serves to flavour other foods and is not eaten on its own. Oriental spices are included. The flower buds called cloves and the fruits of the pepper vine are as truly herbs as any less exotic flavouring.
The word herb also covers medicinal plants and those used in cosmetics or as colouring agents. Finally come plants which are infused, whether to make elderflower wine, nettle beer or a non-alcoholic pot of tea.

Note: This information is not intended as medical advice, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for consultation with your doctor who is familiar with your medical needs.