A small Florida palm whose dark berries were food for the Seminole and Ais peoples and became the best-known men’s herb in Europe and North America. Here’s what tradition and research say about it, and who should be careful.
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Thyme
ByClifThe kitchen herb behind many old-fashioned cough syrups and mouthwashes. Thyme has been used for chesty coughs, sore throats and digestion since ancient Greece, and it's still an approved traditional cough remedy in Europe.
Calendula
ByClifThe bright orange "pot marigold" of cottage gardens, used for centuries to soothe sore skin and dress wounds. Today it's one of the best-known herbs in creams, salves and baby balms.
Fenugreek
ByClifA small golden seed that has flavoured curries and fed nursing mothers for thousands of years, from ancient Egypt to India. Its maple-syrup aroma is the same one that famously lingers on the skin of people who take it.
Uva Ursi
ByClifUva ursi, or bearberry, is one of the best-known traditional bladder herbs, and one with the strictest limits. Here is its history from Welsh physicians to kinnikinnick, what the EU monograph and a 382-woman trial say, the one-week amounts, and who should not use it.
Psyllium (Isabgol)
ByClifPsyllium, known in India as isabgol, is the plant fibre behind many everyday fibre supplements, and it has some of the strongest research of any herb in the vault. Here's how traditions use it, what the newest guidelines say, and how to take it safely.
Parsley (Herbal Profile)
ByClifThe garnish on your plate has a long history as a kitchen herb for the bladder and the belly. This profile covers how traditions used the leaf, root and seed, why the evidence is thin, and why the seed and its oil are a different matter from the leaf.
