Medicine Trees
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Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year 2025
I wish all of you my friends the Very Best for the Festive Season and the New Year. If 2024 has not been so good for you and yours, I wish you a better 2025. If 2024 was great, I wish you an even better 2025. Above all else, I wish you good health for…
The Madagascar Periwinkle in the fight against cancer. Great Breaking News in Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
In an earlier post, I commented on the use of two wonder drugs (vincristine and vinblastine) isolated from the beautiful Madagascar periwinkle (Periwinkle, Pervenche, Vinca rosea, Cantharanthus roseus). I am revisiting the periwinkle because of some great breaking news (October 24, 2024) in the use of its constituents in combatting Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer…
Atropa belladonna an important medicinal plant with an ancient history – What’s in a name?
I recently came across a lovely specimen of Atropa belladonna in the Paris Jardin des Plantes, the garden established by Louis XIII in 1635. Its purpose was clearly defined by its name then, The Jardin Royal des Plantes Médicinales. The Belladonna specimen I saw was carrying ripe berries while still in bloom when I visited…
The search for treatments began with recognition of disease– The Medicinal Herb Garden in Oslo
At the dawn of medicine various minerals, animal parts, and plants provided the first potential remedies for experimentation by patients, shamans and high priests alike. And so, the first formularies emerged to document treatments that were generally thought to be effective. In medieval Europe, the monasteries became the guardians of much of the medicinal treasure…
Taking a lead from Nature – Plants, medicines, and scientists with prepared minds
When I write about medicinal plants, I often come across plants I have never seen before or would not have recognised. In such cases, I try to find a specimen to photograph and study, but this may not be possible as medicinal plants may only grow in remote habitats. Where possible I try to grow…
Breast cancer treatment latest – Enhertu taking a lead from nature and the Happy Tree
On March 6, 2024, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its final draft Guidance that DOES NOT recommend Enhertu for the treatment of advanced breast cancer in the British National Health Service (NHS). Their decision was based not on the drug’s efficacy but on its cost-effectiveness. In short, the Advisory Body…
Medicinal and non-medicinal valerians – Part 3 – Flowers, fragrance, stench, and important medicine for epilepsy
The root of the valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is one of the most widely purchased herbal remedies in many countries for sleep disorders, anxiety, and for what one 19th century herbalist called low-spiritedness (please see my two earlier posts). What is commonly also called valerian is the wild-flower Centrantus ruber. Both types of valerians start to…
Enjoying the transient beauty of flowers for health – Hanami at Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire
Enjoying the transient beauty of flowers. The Japanese have a word for it – Hanami, a delightful custom that is said to date to the eighth century but is most likely much earlier in homo sapiens history. At first Hanami in Japan was a celebration of the beauty of plum blossoms to wipe away the…
Medicinal and non-medicinal valerians – Part 2
The root of the valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is one of the most widely purchased herbal remedies in many countries, including Britain, the US and much of Europe, for sleep disorders, anxiety, and for what one 19th century herbalist called low-spiritedness. However, for most people what we know as valerian is not Valeriana officinalis but a…
Mistaking Autumn Crocus (Colchique d’automne) and Lily of the Valley (Muguet) for Wild Garlic (Ail des ours)
In a comment to my recent post on Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum), a reader, Marie-Noelle Chung helpfully drew my attention to the possibility and danger of confusing it with the poisonous Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale) on which I posted earlier. By coincidence, when I took the photos of the wild garlic in early April 2024,…
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