The Wonderful World of Herbs

In this section we will examine various herbs. We'll learn how to identify them via a description or picture of what they look like, and discover how they can best be utilized. Each month I hope to examine a different herb.

Herbs are Nature's way of saying, "Be well! Be happy!" I hope you will find these pages fascinating and rewarding.

Datura

By: Michael Manion			Page Views: 6,389
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All about Datura.
Estimated reading time: 7 minute(s) (1535 words)

This plant is formally called Solanaceae Datura stramonium. Solanaceae is the order to which this herb belongs. It is Latin for nightshade. Stramonium is probably derived from the Greek for Mad-apple. The name Datura, its generic name, is from the Hindu Dhatura, which was derived from the Sanskrit name D'hastura. This herb is also known as Jimson Weed, Jamestown Weed, Thorn Apple, Mad Apple, Sacred Datura, Locoweed, Indian Apple, Stinkweed, Devil's Apple, Devil's Trumpet, Verba del Diablo, or Apple of Peru. The native peoples of America called this plant by various names. To the Kawaiisu people it was known as Moopi. To the Paiute people Mam-op-weep was how you addressed this plant. The Shoshoni called it  Mui-ppeh.

Hemp

By: Michael Manion			Page Views: 1,926
Hashtags: #Herbs #Hemp
All about Hemp.
Estimated reading time: 19 minute(s) (4358 words)

Hemp is a plant that has been long familiar to humans, judging by the names it's borne through the centuries. The ancient Greeks called it xnipiz. That word made its way into the Old High German Hanaf, which was then adopted by the Anglo-Saxons as henep. In all its incarnations, "hemp" means a fibrous plant material or fibrous plant. Hemp, therefore, is a somewhat generic term for several closely related, but distinct, genera of plant.

Violet

By: Michael Manion			Page Views: 2,971
Hashtags: #Herbs #Datura
All about Datura.
Estimated reading time: 9 minute(s) (1914 words)

There are a variety of types of violets and over four hundred species. The name of the most common form of this plant is called Viola Odorata. The species is called Violaceae, the formal Latin name for Violet. The name violet is taken from the Latin name Viola, which, in turn, is from the Greek name Ione or Io. Odorata means "fragrant". Some prevalent variations are woodland violets (Viola Sylvatica; common blue violets are sometimes called Viola papilionacea. In Russia, the violet is called Fialka Polevaya; in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh it is known as Banaf Shah. The Chinese have two widely used varieties of this plant; one is called P'u-fu Ching (Creeping Violet, scientifically known as Viola diffusa) and Tzu-hua Ti-ting (familiar name Li-t'ou ts'ao; in English that would be the form of violet familiarly known as plow-grass). These two will be mentioned individually below.