#TorontoOnFire #TCM #TraditionalChineseMedicine #MedicinalPlants #MedicineTrees #Botanicals #TreeTherapy #NaturesMedicines #Herbal #Purveyorsofdreams #Natural #Botanicals #Placebo #ChineseHerbs #Perfumes #NaturalOils #FrangranceOils #VolatileOils @MedicineTrees2023
To paraphrase Albert Camus. autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower, and every tree is on fire.
That was Toronto when I visited in early November 2022. On the banks of Lake Ontario, every tree was aflame. Save for the weeping willow, the source of salicin the precursor of aspirin, there were few trees I could recognise as medicinal, but who needed medicines when the trees dispensed so much happiness as we strolled among them, tranquil and serene.
On that November day the sun shone through the psychedelic leaves to X-ray their intricate ribs as they danced in the breeze. The next day was drizzly, the flipside of autumn, and along a drab but busy main street in the city’s China town were two emporia specialising in Chinese herbal medicines to bring relief when the yin and yang of life are out of tune. How many of the herbs on offer were more effective than tree therapy along the lake, I wondered. There was ginseng in all its guises, local and imported from the US, from China and from Korea – whole root, sliced, as teas, and as tonics.
The Herb Depot, perhaps taking a leaf from the design books of the high fashion houses, the master-purveyors of dreams in the form of fragrances, blends of oils from the plant world – Armani, Dior, Givenchy, Hermès, Estee Lauder, Kenzo …- was immaculately presented, comforting, inviting, and exuding placebos. You sensed cures being delivered even without the Chinese apothecary’s wares. There were, rhubarb, aconite, jujube, Chinese yams, Reishi mushrooms, Gunpowder green tea, Body and Mind Joy teabags …. If all from the worlds’ medicinal herb gardens brought to Toronto failed, there were acupuncture needles.
Medicine Trees 
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