German chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla, is a well-known herb whose medicinal qualities have been put to good use for many centuries. Small children learn about chamomile’s calming effects in Beatrix Potter’s classic book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, where Peter Rabbit’s mother puts him to bed with chamomile tea after his harrowing escape from eating vegetables in Mr. McGregor’s garden. “Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some chamomile tea: One table-spoonful to be taken at bedtime” (Potter, 1902). Still today, some people sip on chamomile tea to reduce anxiety, ease digestion, and to help them sleep. In Europe, chamomile is considered a cure-all and in Germany it is referred to as alles zu traut, meaning that it is capable of anything (Sah, 2022).
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used chamomile as a medicine. Greek physicians Hippocrates and Dioscorides, and Roman physician Galen wrote about the medicinal uses of the herb. They used it to treat digestive issues, fever, and pain. It was also used to treat skin conditions. The root word of the plant’s botanical name, “matricaria”, is from the word “matrix,” which in Latin means “womb.” It was given this name because chamomile was used to treat gynecological problems and sleep disorders related to premenstrual syndrome.
During the Middle Ages, chamomile was a common remedy for sleeplessness, anxiety, and digestive problems. It was believed to have anti-inflammatory properties so was also used to heal wounds and reduce swelling. Chamomile, because of its pleasant scent, was also used as a strewing herb in medieval homes. The name chamomile comes from the Greek word meaning “earth apple”, referring to the apple scent of the plant. By the 16th and 17th centuries it was used mostly to treat fevers (Engels, 2018).
In the United States, chamomile was first cultivated by German farmers and was used by Eclectic physicians to treat children and pregnant women (Engels, 2018). The USDA gave chamomile Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status as a food additive in 2000 and reported that it could be used in over-the-counter dietary supplements. Although there have not been a large number of studies on the effects of chamomile on the central nervous system, a recent clinical trial confirmed that chamomile reduced symptoms of anxiety in people with anxiety disorders (Mount Sinai, n.d.), giving credence to the historic use of the herb.
More than 120 chemical components have been identified in chamomile flowers, mostly in the essential oil. It’s interesting to note that the plant is sometimes called “blue chamomile” because of the blue color of its essential oil. The color is due to the azulene that is released during distillation (Mountain Rose, n.d.). Chamomile flowers contain pollen, so people who are sensitive to ragweed and chrysanthemum or other members of the Asteraceae family should be cautious about drinking chamomile tea (Kowalchik, 1998).
German chamomile is an easy plant to grow. Seeds can be planted directly into the soil in the spring or fall. It is an annual, but it reseeds itself readily. It is a drought tolerant plant and if the soil is fertile, it will sport its flowers on thicker stalks. The plant can grow 2-3 feet tall and likes full sun or partial shade. The flowers should be harvested often or the plant cut back to encourage new growth and new flowers. Flowers are fragrant and can be used fresh or dried. The leaves of the plant are also edible. Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) is almost identical to German chamomile, even though it is in a different species (Ianotti, 2022). However, the Roman variety is a perennial and is low-growing. Some say Roman chamomile is more fragrant.
German chamomile is The Herb Society’s Herb of the Month for April. For more information about the herb, please visit The Society’s Herb of the Month webpage.
Medicinal Disclaimer: It is the policy of The Herb Society of America, Inc. not to advise or recommend herbs for medicinal or health use. The information in this presentation is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation or an endorsement of any particular medical or health treatment. Please consult a health care provider before pursuing any herbal treatments.
Photo Credits: 1) Mrs. Rabbit putting Peter to bed with a cup of chamomile tea (Public Domain); 2) Staff of Asclepius (Tmelu); 3) A cup of chamomile tea (courtesy of the author); 4) Vial of chamomile essential oil (Public Domain); 5) Chamomile flowers (Fir0002/Flagstaffotos)
References
Engels, Gayle and Josef Brinckmann. 2018. Chamomile Matricaria chamomilla (syn. M. recutita, Chamomilla recututa) Family: Asteraceae. HerbalGram. Issue 108. Accessed 4/5/23. Available from https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalgram/issues/108/table-of-contents/hg108-herbpro-chamomile/
Iannotti, Marie. 2022. How to grow and care for chamomile. Accessed 4/10/23. Available from https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-chamomile-1402627
Kowalchik, Claire & William H. Hylton, eds. 1998. Rodale’s illustrated encyclopedia of herbs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
Mountain Rose Herbs. n.d. Chamomile, blue essential oil. Accessed 4/28/2023. Available from https://mountainroseherbs.com/blue-chamomile-essential-oil
Mount Sinai. n.d. German chamomile. Accessed 4/10/23. Available from https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/german-chamomile
Potter, Beatrix. 1902. The tale of Peter Rabbit. London: Frederick Warne, & Co. Accessed 4/18/22. Available from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14838/14838-h/14838-h.htm
Sah, Amit et al. 2022. A comprehensive study of therapeutic applications of chamomile. Accessed 4/6/23. Available from https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/15/10/1284
Maryann is the Secretary of The Herb Society of America and a Texas Master Gardener. She is a member of The Society’s Texas Thyme Unit in Huntsville, TX. Maryann is also a certified Native Landscape Specialist. She lectures on herbs and plants and does the herb training for several Master Gardener programs. She gardens among the pines in the Piney Woods of East Texas.
Chives, 
Due to the sulfur compounds in chives, they have been used as insect repellent in gardens throughout history. It is particularly effective against Japanese beetles. Despite their sulfur smell, chive flowers attract bees and other pollinators to the garden. In a study conducted by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative’s Agriland Project in 2014, chives were named as one of the ten highest sugar producing plant species for pollinators (Memmott, 2014). It also has been found that the juice in chive leaves is effective in combating some fungal infections and mildew, giving another great benefit to having it growing in the rose garden since roses are susceptible to fungal pathogens. 
Chives are also a good addition to rock gardens, with their roots keeping dirt from washing out from between the rocks. They would be a nice addition to fairy gardens with their green spiky stalks and purple flowers. Chives can be grown indoors on a sunny window sill for convenient use in cooking. When harvesting chives, it is recommended to cut the stalks just above the soil line to promote new growth of stems and bulbs. Stems should be cut several times during the growing season. 
Chives have been used as a medicinal plant for 5,000 years. It is said that Marco Polo brought chives to the west from his travels to China where they’d been used as a medicinal and culinary plant for 2,000 years. The Romans used them to treat sunburn and sore throat, as a diuretic, and to reduce blood pressure. Pliny the Elder, in his book 
Today, according to researchers, chives and other members of its family are being looked at for their usefulness in medicine. According to Varinder Singh et al., “
Ginger, 
Ginger is a very old spice. The Indians and the Chinese used ginger as a medicine over 5000 years ago to treat a variety of ailments (Bode, 2011). It was also used to flavor foods long before history was even recorded. The Greeks and the Romans introduced ginger to Europe and the Mediterranean area by way of the Arab traders. It became an important spice in Europe until the fall of the Roman Empire. When the Arabs re-established trade routes after the fall, ginger found its way back into European apothecaries and kitchens. It is said that one pound of ginger cost the same as one sheep in the 13th and 14
Today, growing culinary ginger is not limited to the hot, humid areas of Southeast Asia and India as it was long ago. Anyone living in southern growing areas (USDA Hardiness Zones 8 – 12) can grow it as a perennial. In colder areas, it can be grown in pots and brought indoors for the winter or grown in the ground, but dug up before frost and potted up for overwintering indoors in a cool location. It prefers a rich, moist soil, good drainage, and shade in the south, but full sun in the north. If starting plants from store-bought ginger rhizomes, the rhizome should be first soaked in water to remove any growth retardant that may have been used. Each rhizome can be cut into sections with at least two eyes and planted in soil. Harvest the rhizomes when the leaves begin to fade. 
using ginger in some form: fresh, ground, crystallized, pickled, preserved, or dried. 
Unfortunately for ginger, there is a dark side to its history. 
Vanilla, Vanilla planifolia, is The Herb Society’s Herb of the Month for December. It is the perfect month to feature vanilla, since its flavor will be a fragrant ingredient in many of the desserts that are served during the holidays. But where to begin a discussion of this historic spice, which is the second most expensive spice in the world after saffron?
from those seed pods. The vanilla orchid grows in the tropical climates of places like Mexico, Réunion, Tahiti, and Madagascar. Today, 80% of vanilla comes from the island nations of Madagascar and nearby Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Vanilla grown in Madagascar is the most desirable and is often called “Bourbon Vanilla” (Oon, 2020). However, the vanilla vine, which grows to about 300 feet, was first grown in Mexico. At first, Mexico was the only place where vanilla grew, because it needed the Melepona bee to pollinate the flower in order to produce the seed pod. Hernán Cortéz is credited with discovering vanilla during his exploration of Central America in the 16th century, where the Aztecs combined vanilla with cocoa to create their famous drink, xocolatl. The plant was eventually brought to Europe and other tropical climates, but the plants could never produce the vanilla bean, because the Melepona bee pollinator was not present to pollinate the flowers. That is, until one day in 1841, a young boy on the Réunion island in the Indian Ocean discovered how to manually pollinate the vanilla orchid. Soon, growing pod-producing vanilla vines was possible in other tropical countries.
But the process of producing the vanilla was—and still is—a laborious one. It takes three years for a vanilla plant to bloom. Each vanilla flower opens for only one day, and hand-pollination has to be done during a very short window of time. (
In 2022, the price of Madagascar vanilla was between $178 and $206 per pound (Salina Wamucii, 2022) after being only $20 per pound five years before. After two devastating cyclones, which destroyed much of the vanilla crop growing in Madagascar in 2017, prices have soared. The expensive and scarce vanilla has forced farmers to imprint a code on each of their growing vanilla beans in order to deter thieves. Companies that import large quantities of vanilla have banded together to help farmers deal with the environmental problems that are affecting their vanilla vines. They decided that helping the farmers is easier than changing formulations based on a new vanilla product and changing the labels needed for a new product.
The demand for vanilla flavoring far exceeds the supply. Vanilla contains between 250-500 different flavor and fragrance components. The most prominent is vanillin, which scientists learned how to create in the laboratory in the late 19th century. Vanillin can be made from petrochemicals, from wood pulp, and from eugenol, which is a component of clove oil. This synthetic or imitation vanilla is much cheaper than the real vanilla extract made from the vanilla beans. It is most likely the one used in vanilla-flavored food products that we are familiar with. “The vast bulk, 99 percent of vanilla-flavored products on the market, from vanilla flavored vodka to vanilla wafers and vanilla pudding, don’t actually contain vanilla” (Rupp, 2014). For consumers, who are increasingly demanding natural products, vanilla made from petrochemicals or wood chips is a difficult choice to make.
So, which vanilla product should you use this holiday season—the cheaper imitation vanilla or the real, but expensive, vanilla extract? Some say that if you are baking something that requires a temperature over 300 degrees, you can just as well substitute the imitation for the real thing. But if you are making puddings, custards, or vanilla ice cream, you should use the real thing—vanilla extract.
The cranberry, 
Flowers bloom in May and June on the stolons and terminal ends of the vine. Because the flower pollen is too heavy to be carried by the wind, pollination is dependent on native bees and honey bees. Fruit matures after about 80 days, and harvesting begins at the end of September and extends into October. To harvest the berries, the growing area is flooded. Then, the plants are “beaten” with specialized equipment causing the berries, which have four small air pockets in them, to float to the top. (These air pockets also make fresh cranberries bouncy.) The floating berries are corralled into one area and then harvested using conveyor belts. This “wet harvesting” method is used for berries that become cranberry juice and sauce. 
About 5% of berries are “dry harvested” and packed for use as fresh fruit. Dry harvesting is done by mechanized “combing” of the fruit from the vines (Cranberry Institute, n.d.).
The Pilgrims named the berry “crane berry,” because the unopened flower resembled the head, neck, and bill of a crane. The name was later shortened to cranberry. Some also called it “bear berry” because bears liked to eat the berries.
Elizabeth Lee, in New Jersey, made and sold the first cranberry sauce in 1917. Due to the success of her sauce, Bog Sweet Cranberry Sauce, she partnered with two other growers and formed the company Ocean Spray in 1930.
Recent research shows that cranberries can be healthy in other ways. Some research suggests that they can prevent bacterial infections that cause ulcers in the stomach. They also may help slow the buildup of dental plaque. Cranberries have two dozen antioxidant compounds, which help protect cells from damage that can lead to serious diseases such as cancer and heart disease (WebMD, 2020). Cranberries also contain salicylic acid, which can help reduce swelling and prevent blood clots from forming. 
Cranberries are a popular accompaniment at holiday meals. A meal of roasted turkey is not complete without the sweet tanginess of cranberry sauce. About 20% of cranberries are consumed at Thanksgiving. It is interesting to note that cranberries are more tart than lemons and also contain less sugar than lemons (Alfaro, 2021). Adding a quarter teaspoon of baking soda can help reduce the tartness of cranberries and, therefore, reduce the need for extra sugar. 
cranberries are used to make sauces and jellies. When cooking fresh cranberries, they should only be cooked until the skins begin to pop. Chopped fresh cranberries make a colorful addition to salads. They can be a zingy substitute for cherries or pomegranates as well. Fresh cranberries can be frozen and kept in the freezer for up to a year. Frozen cranberries do not have to be unthawed before using. The Cosmopolitan drink is made with cranberry juice. White cranberry juice is made with cranberries that have not yet ripened.
Caraway seed, 
References to caraway are found in the Ebers Papyrus (1500 BCE) and in the writings of the Greek physician, Dioscorides (50-70 CE). Some trace its use back to the Stone Age because fossilized seeds have been found around lake dwellings from that period. The Romans used caraway and spread its use to other parts of their realm. It has been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages. 
The culinary use of caraway is well known. Caraway is used to make the north African chile sauce, harissa. It is also used in the traditional British seed cake that is enjoyed with tea (Marchetti, 2013). Its anise-like flavor is very popular in German and Slavic cuisines. The seed is used to flavor breads such as Jewish rye bread, sausages, cabbage, and fruit and vegetable dishes as well as cheeses such as Havarti. The leaves are added to soups and salads. The seeds are also used to make alcoholic drinks such as aquavit, kϋmmel, and vodka. The seeds can be sugar coated and used as a breath freshener or a digestive aid. The essential oil is used in perfumes, ice cream, candy, soft drinks, and to flavor children’s medicine (Bown, 2001). Growing up in a Slavic household, caraway seed was a staple spice in my mom’s kitchen. 
Coffea arabica is certainly an interesting herbal plant. This simple, evergreen, small tree or shrub with white flowers is grown in tropical climates. It is native to southern Ethiopia and South Sudan and has been naturalized in Brazil and other South American and African countries. It takes three to four years for a tree to produce the red berries, sometimes called “cherries.” The fruit is hand-picked and the pulp removed to uncover the two seeds in each fruit. These seeds are dried, roasted, and ground to make the coffee that we drink. Scientists at Kew Gardens in England (Kew, 2019) say that the arabica species is now endangered due to deforestation and climate change. However, the less popular robusta species, which is already used in instant and decaffeinated coffees, grows well in Africa and other areas of the world and can fill the needs of the world’s coffee culture.
It is said that coffee was discovered around 850 CE in the Ethiopian highlands by a goat herder who noticed that his goats became lively after eating the berries from the coffee plant. The herder took this observation back to a monk in a nearby monastery. The monk thought it would be worth trying the bean to help him get through his all-night prayer vigils. It worked! Coffee beans then became a way for the religious to sustain their long nights of prayer. From there, the use of the bean spread to Yemen and Turkey, where the Arabs began using the bean both as a medicine and as a stimulating drink. 
The first coffeehouse in Constantinople (now called Istanbul) was established in 1475. There was debate within the Muslim religious community whether or not coffee was an inebriating drink prohibited by the Quran. It was finally decided that since the Quran did not specifically mention coffee, it was allowable for Muslims to drink it. Until 1690, Arabia monopolized the coffee supply. Foreign visitors were forbidden to visit coffee plantations, and only beans that had been roasted or boiled could be exported since the processing made them infertile. The coffee monopoly ended when a man named Sufi Baba Budan smuggled coffee beans taped to his stomach out of Yemen to his native India. The beans grew into coffee plants, plantations followed, and the rest is history.
The first coffeehouse in Europe was opened in Oxford, England, in 1650, and by 1700, there were 2,000 coffeehouses in London alone. The popularity of coffeehouses in Europe coincided with the Enlightenment period, and they became the place where writers, philosophers, and political activists exchanged ideas. British coffee shops became known as “penny universities,” because a cup of coffee cost one cent and you could learn a lot while drinking it and listening to the discussions. In 1675, King Charles II tried to abolish coffeehouses, because the open discussion that occurred in them was perceived to be a danger to the government. However, it was an unpopular decision and did not succeed. The coffeehouse movement continued to grow in England, and many coffeehouses even became specialized. Some became institutions that still exist today, such as the London Stock Exchange and Lloyds of London. 
In America, the American Revolution was plotted in the Green Dragon Tavern, a tavern/coffeehouse in Boston Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party, which did much to unseat tea as the beverage of choice in the new world. Today, Americans drink 517 million cups of coffee per day (2 cups per day per person) (National Coffee Assoc., 2022) and spent $74.2 billion on coffee in 2015. Coffee is the second largest traded commodity in the world after oil. It battles beer for third place as the most popular drink in the world after water and tea. Starbucks, created in 1985 with just a few coffeeshops, has grown to over 9,000 shops worldwide.
According to Sampath Rarthasarathy, Ph.D., “Coffee is one of the richest sources of phenolics and polyphenols, which are antioxidants. Research shows that these compounds may help prevent or even repair some types of cell damage. A 2018 study found that those who drank coffee were less likely to die early than those who didn’t. And prior research suggests that coffee may reduce the risk of cancer, stroke, and diabetes” (Rockwood, 2019).
As if all of these qualities of coffee were not enough, scientists have also discovered that caffeine is a natural pesticide and speculate that caffeine developed along with the coffee plant as a protection for the plant against harmful insects. They have found that adding caffeine to other natural pesticides increased their effectiveness against insects such as mosquito larvae, hornworms, mealworms, and milkweed bugs.
It was believed that heartsease could cure the effects of illicit love too, which resulted in what some countries called the French disease, also known as syphilis.
The spice that we call cloves comes from the clove tree, 
The clove bud is harvested when the bud begins to turn from green to pink. The clove that we use in cooking is the stem of the flower and the round ball in the center is the unopened flower. Buds are hand-picked and dried in the sun, mostly in the fall. As they dry, the buds release a strong aroma that can be smelled from miles away. The mature fruit of the tree is called “Mother Clove” and contains a single seed. The oldest clove tree, named “Afo,” is on the island of Ternate in the Moluccas and is believed to be about 400 years old. 
The History
speaking with the emperor. Arab traders brought cloves to the Romans in the first century AD, where Galen, the famous Greek physician, used cloves in a soothing ointment (Donkin, 2003).
smuggling cloves from the island punishable by death (Mosely, 2020). Today, the finest cloves are said to come from Zanzibar, and they remain an important cash crop for Tanzania. Cloves are still harvested in Indonesia, but 80% of the crop is used in the manufacture of the fragrant, domestic clove cigarette called kretek and is also used as a flavoring in the preparation of betel nut quids (Sui and Lacy, 2015). 
The French stud an onion with cloves and use it when making chicken broth.
Artistic Use of Cloves
The fuzzy, light gray, deeply-wrinkled leaves of horehound (Marrubium vulgare) offer a nice contrast to other colors and textures in the garden. I love that contrast around the base of the red roses in my garden. Horehound is a perennial herb that grows from one to two feet tall, and can spread in the garden. It prefers dry sandy soil and a sunny location, tolerates poor soil, and is hardy in USDA Zones 4‒8. It may be started from seed in the spring, although germination is slow and sometimes not reliable. Cuttings can be taken from a mature plant or the established plant can be divided. Its leaves have a very bitter taste. Horehound produces whorls of small white flowers at the top of the stalk in the second year. The flowers are very attractive to bees, which makes for a tasty honey. The barbed seeds attach to grazing animals and clothing, enabling their spread to other locations.
The Egyptians and the Greeks used it to treat respiratory problems, while the Romans used horehound as an antidote to poisons. Columella, a 1st century Roman agricultural writer, stated that horehound was useful in treating worms in farm animals (Columella, 1941).
At the end of the 19th century, rock and rye liqueur–a combination of rock candy dissolved in rye whiskey and a touch of horehound and citrus—managed to survive Prohibition because it was marketed as a medicinal tonic; it was labeled as a cure for colds, congestion, and other illnesses. The liqueur could be purchased in pharmacies in the United States and was initially taxed at a lower rate owing to its “medicinal properties (Mayhew, 2021).”
Marrubiin, a component of horehound, gives the herb its bitter taste. It is also thought to be responsible for its expectorant action and for increasing saliva and gastric juices, which stimulate the appetite. This explains its traditional use as a cough suppressant, expectorant, and bitter digestive tonic (Kaiser, 2015).
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