Healing plants can be found almost anywhere in the natural world; by the wayside, in damp meadows, in your own garden. But how do you gather and recognize the produce of the herbs, shrubs, and trees？ How do you avoid confusing them with poisonous species？ What parts of the plants--leaves, flowers, roots, fruits or bark--are gathered and how do you use them？
In this book, you will find more than 400 medicinal plants, all described in detail and accompanied by informative photographs.Thanks to easy-to-read tables, you can see at a glance what herbs can be used to treat which illnesses. Discover the wealth of plants and the many and varied therapies that Nature has to offer.
In this book, we introduce more than 400 plants.You will find detailed descriptions of the individual plants,and also information on the historical context, the derivation of names, or the legends and myths that are firmly linked to certain plants and their genuine or supposed qualities--just think of the four-leafed dover's promise of good luck or mistletoe with its attendant legends.
A historical summary takes you far back into the past. The Ancient Egyptians had an extensive knowledge of medicinal plants. In the Middle Ages, the period in which the famous Hildegard of Bingen lived, cult and superstition, retigion and myth,magic and medicine were woven into a tangle, hard to unravel of facts and rituats, some of which still survive today in custom and popular belief.
Modern pharmaceutical science, with its ever more refined analyses of active agents, has been able to banish some traditions to the realm of fantasy, but not infrequently has also confirmed the knowledge held by the monasteries and the common people,based on a wealth of experience that reaches back over millennia.
Preface
Introduction
History
Tips for gathering
Constituents and active agents
Use and preparation
Plant recognition table
Healing herbs
Asterids Asteridae
Aster family Asteraceae
Dogbane family Apocynaceae
Borage family Boraginaceae
Gentian family Gentianaceae
& Buckbean Menyanthaceae
Mint family Labiatae (Lamiaceae)
Olive family Oleaceae
Broomrape family Orobanchaceae
Plantain family Plantaginaceae
Madder family Rubiaceae
Elder family 5ambucaceae
Figwort family 5crophulariaceae
Potato family Solanaceae
Valerian family Valerianaceae
Verbena family Verbenaceae
Caryophyllids Canyophyllidae
Pink family Caryophyllaceae
Goosefoot family Chenopocliaceae
Knotweed family Polygonaceae
Dilleniids Dilleniidae
Mustard family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae)
Heath family Ericaceae
Hypericum family Hypericaceae
Mallow family A4alvaceae
Primrose family Primulaceae
Willow family Salicaceae
Linden family Tiliaceae
Violet family Violaceae
Hamamelids Hamamelididae
Birch family Betulaceae
Hemp family Cannabaceae
Hazel family CooIlaceae
Beech family Fagaceae (Cupuli~erae)
Walnut family Juglandaceae
Nettle family Urticacea
Liliids Liliidae
Lily family Liliaceae
Asphodel family Asphodelaceae
Grass family Poaceae
Ranunculoids Ranunculoidae
Barberry family Berberidaceae
Fumitory family Fumariaceae and
Poppy family Papaveraceae
Ranunculus family Ranunculaceae
Rosids Rosidae
Umbellifer family Apiaceae (Umbellierae)
Holly family Aquifoliaceae
Ivy family Araliaceae
Dogwood family Comaceae
Sundew family Droseraceae
Oleaster family Eleagnaceae
pEa family Fabaceae
Geranium family Geraniaceae
Horse chestnut family Hippocastanaceae
Flax family Linaceae
Evening primrose family Onagraceae
Buckthorn family Rhamnaceae
Mistletoe family Viscaceae
Rose family Rosaceae
Pinopsids, Cryptogamae
Pinopsidae, Cg/ptogamae
Cypress family Cupressaceae
Ginkgo family Ginkgoaceae
Pine family Pinaceae
Horsetail family Equisetaceae
Club- moss family Lycopodiaceae
Polypody family Polypodiaceae
Algae Algae
Lichens Lichenes
Other Angiosperms Angiospermae
Arum family Araceae
Birthwort family Aristolochiaceae
Laurel family Lauraceae
Duckweed family Lemnaceae
Healing with herbs
Respiratory tract
Digestive tract and metabolism
Heart and circulation
Urogenital tract
Gynecology
Skin, eyes
Musculoskeletal system
Nervous system
Immune system, poor constitution
Children's illnesses
Appendix
Bibliography
Ailments and diseases--key words
Index of scientific names
Index of common names
Picture credits
Acknowledgements
Imprint
