Consultations

Herbal History

Using plants as medicine is an ancient tradition. All cultures and countries have employed plants or herbs as part of their healing medicinal systems. In North American there has been a rich tradition of herbalism; the native people shared their knowledge of local plants with the European people who settled here. The Europeans brought their plant traditions to this country, planting seeds from their medicinal gardens at home. In this country many of our familiar medicinal plants are natives of the European continent. During the 19th and 20th centuries the Eclectic and Homeopathic systems of Medicine were plant-based systems. Today, we draw from a large selection of plants representing many cultures such as the Ayervedic and Chinese as well as the American and European Herbal Traditions. Because of our diversity of nationalities in the USA we have an opportunity to learn from a wide variety of traditions. I work in the Western Herbal Tradition which means I use plants from American and European herbalism with an emphasis on plants that grow in our local region. more...