Rosmarinus officinalis

Also, Known As:

• Compass Weed
• Dew of the Sea
• Garden Rosemary
• Incensier
• Mary’s Mantle
• Mi-tieh-hsiang
• Old Man
• Polar Plant
• Rosemary
• Rosemary Plant

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (family Lamiaceae), is also known as rosemary. This herb is an evergreen shrub, with lovely aromatic linear leaves. Colored a dark shade of green above and white below, the leaves of the rosemary give off a beautiful fragrance, and with its small pale blue flowers, the plant is cultivated extensively in many kitchen gardens across America and elsewhere.

The evergreen shrub originated in the Mediterranean area, but it is today cultivated almost everywhere in the world, primarily for its aromatic leaves. The shrub has several ash colored branches, and the bark is rather scaly. The leaves, as described earlier, are opposite and leathery thick. They are lustrous and dark green above and downy white underneath, with a prominent vein in the middle and…

Verbena Officinalis

Also, Known As:

• Herb-of-the-cross
• Ma Bian Cao
• Pigeon’s Grass
• Verbena
• Vervain

The ancient Romans held all species of the vervain in admiration and used the ‘sacred’ herb to sanitize their homes and temples. In addition, they knew several therapeutic advantages of the herb and used it to treat numerous disorders. Incidentally, despite its multi-purpose use, the vervain is a commonly growing herb that does not appear to be different from many other plants. In ancient times, remedies prepared with the herb were often used to cure snakebite and diarrhea. At the same time, the root of vervain was chewed by people with a view to strengthening their teeth and gums. Interestingly, the herb served to diverse purposes – a love potion for the medieval witches and a substance to cure people of the influence of the ominous spell cast by these witches. In fact, vervain also finds a…