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