Page 24 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

Hyssopus
nightshade, henbane, mandrake, opium
poppy and rhubarb. The Romans followed
many of the Greek principles and plant
uses and made good use of a wide range
of herbs.
In the Arabian Peninsula from 865 to
1037AD there were a number of books
written on the use of medicinal herbs and
the plants included chamomile, fennel,
fenugreek, rhubarb, senna and quince. One
book describes 811 medicinal substances
many of them from plants found in India,
Tibet and China showing the links with that
part of the world during that period.
During the Middle Ages the main centre
of medical learning was the monasteries,
and many medicinal herbs were grown
by the monks. Unfortunately, a lot of
information was lost during this period
and little new research was carried out.
Two major events that helped to increase
the use of herbs during this period were in
1450 Gutenberg invented the printing press
Mint Chocolate 24 Simply Vegetables
which allowed the greater production of
books and in 1492 Columbus discovered
America which led to many new plants
being sent back to Europe and the wider
world. In the 16th century there was the
start of proper scientific study of plants and
the publishing of various work and books.
In Britain there is some evidence of the
use of herbs before the Romans, but a lot
was learnt from them. The druids made
good use of medicinal plants prior to the
Roman invasion, and they had seven
sacred herbs these being clover, henbane,
mistletoe, monkshood, pasque flower,
primrose and vervain.
The 1500’s saw books published by
William Turner called A New Herbal, John
Gerrad The Herbal and John Parkinson
Theatre of Plants and in 1652 Nicholas
Culpeper published The English Physician.
There is evidence of nearly 4000 species
being used and the botanical and physic
properties of plants were now starting to
be developed.
In modern times herbs have been use
less partly owing to the development
of chemical drugs many of which were
developed from herbs or plant substances.
Plants contain many constituents or
compounds of which with the regards to
herbs there are six main ones.
Alkaloids are naturally occurring in plants
and often have a toxic effect on animals
especially humans, they are often odourless
and colourless and include morphine,
strychnine, quinine, nicotine, atropine and
colchicine.
Glycosides are next and these are the
most poisonous to mankind and consist
of a sugar attached to another chemical
and are naturally occurring. They include
cardiac glycoside from the foxglove which
I believe is still used in some form these
days. The glycosides are very potent even
in very small doses and also contain many
laxatives. Primula contains primulaverin
Parsley 'Cloud Cover'