A Modern Herbal (Volume 1, A-H): The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-Lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs & Trees with Their Modern Scientific Uses - Hardcover

Grieve, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1626542201 ISBN 13: 9781626542204

Publisher: Stone Basin Books, 2015

Synopsis

If you're wondering how Golden Rod, Ragwort, and Devil's Bit got their names, how Dandelion can be used to treat liver disorders, or how Horseradish staves off scurvy, look no further than A Modern Herbal. This modern reboot of the medieval herbal improves upon its predecessors with meticulously researched scientific support and pages of recorded folklore about each entry. Encyclopedic in coverage, A Modern Herbal covers every herb, grass, shrub, fungus, and tree you can think of, from to Abscess Root to Zedoary.

Building on the traditional herbal, which combines folklore about the plants, their medicinal properties, anatomies, and botanical classification, Mrs. Greive has compiled a one-of-a-kind encyclopedia of more than 800 varieties of plants. The entries are neatly and thoroughly filled with seemingly boundless amounts of information on cultivation methods, chemical constituents, dosages, preparations of extracts, tinctures, and foods, as well as cosmetic properties, and beautiful, detailed illustrations. Also included are hundreds of recipes for lotions, ointments, sauces, wines, vinegars, brandies, and prescriptions for tonics and liniments to combat just about any ailment.

"There is not one page of this enchanting book which does not contain something to interest the common reader as well as the serious student...regarded simply as a history of flowers, it adds to the joys of the country." - B.E. Todd, Spectator

Readers interested in related titles from M. Grieve will also want to see: A Modern Herbal: The Complete Edition (ISBN: 9781626542235), A Modern Herbal (Volume 2, I-Z and Indexes) (ISBN: 9781626542211).

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"There is not one page of this enchanting book which does not contain something to interest the common reader as well as the serious student. Regarded simply as a history of flowers, it adds to the joys of the country."—B. E. Todd, Spectator.
If you want to know how pleurisy root, lungwort, and abscess root got their names, how poison ivy used to treat rheumatism, or how garlic guarded against the Bubonic Plague, consult A Modern Herbal. This 20th-century version of the medieval Herbal is as rich in scientific fact and folklore as its predecessors and is equally encyclopedic in coverage. From aconite to zedoary, not an herb, grass, fungus, shrub or tree is overlooked; and strange and wonderful discoveries about even the most common of plants await the reader.
Traditionally, an herbal combined the folk beliefs and tales about plants, the medicinal properties (and parts used) of the herbs, and their botanical classification. But Mrs. Grieve has extended and enlarged the tradition; her coverage of asafetida, bearberry, broom, chamomile, chickweed, dandelion, dock, elecampane, almond, eyebright, fenugreek, moss, fern, figwort, gentian, Hart's tongue, indigo, acacia, jaborandi, kava kava, lavender, pimpernel, rhubarb, squill, sage, thyme, sarsaparilla, unicorn root, valerian, woundwort, yew, etc.—more than 800 varieties in all—includes in addition methods of cultivation; the chemical constituents, dosages, and preparations of extracts and tinctures, unknown to earlier herbalists; possible economic and cosmetic properties, and detailed illustrations, from root to bud, of 161 plants.
Of the many exceptional plants covered in Herbal, perhaps the most fascinating are the poisonous varieties—hemlock, poison oak, aconite, etc.—whose poisons, in certain cases, serve medical purposes and whose antidotes (if known) are given in detail. And of the many unique features, perhaps the most interesting are the hundreds of recipes and instructions for making ointments, lotions, sauces, wines, and fruit brandies like bilberry and carrot jam, elderberry and mint vinegar, sagina sauce, and cucumber lotion for sunburn; and the hundreds of prescriptions for tonics and liniments for bronchitis, arthritis, dropsy, jaundice, nervous tension, skin disease, and other ailments. 96 plates, 161 illustrations.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stone Basin Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1626542201
• ISBN 13: 9781626542204
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 510