This evergreen, mint-family perennial is native to the Balkans and the Mediterranean region. Its bluish purple flowers and grayish green leaves have been a culinary and herbal remedy for some 2,000 years.

This shrubby herb, with pale blue (occasionally white or pink) flowers and gray green, pinelike (and piney-smelling) foliage, provides a familiar fragrance in both the bathroom and the kitchen. its dried leaves are a flavorful addition to stews, soups, and meats.

Almost from the moment the first Roman munched on a mint leaf after dining, a postprandial tradition was born. It wasn't until the late 1600s, though, that the prescriptive possibilities behind the cool taste began to be acknowledged.

Herbal Remedies: Licorice

Licorice was used therapeutically in ancient China and Rome, mostly for respiratory complaints and intestinal woes. Ever since, the plant's roots have been used for these conditions and more, with an ever-growing mountain of scientific evidence to back up the applications. Some 20 different licorice species grow in parts of Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia. Read more...

Saw Palmetto

Used by the American Indians as a male tonic, saw palmetto inhibits the conversion of the male hormone testosterone to its more active form and also has anti-estrogenic effects.

Perhaps one of herbal medicine's best-kept secrets and one of American medicine's most glaring oversights, this plant has been used for liver ailments for a couple of thousand years. Native to Europe but now growing along both coasts of North America, milk thistle is an attractive, edible plant with fuzzy, reddish purple flowers.

Herbal remedy for:
1) Cirrhosis, colic, gallbladder problems, hepatitis, indigestion, jaundice, lack of appetite, mushroom poisoning.

2) Breast cancer, dermatitis, diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, gallstones, high cholesterol

Other Herbal Remedy: Lobelia

Asthma weed

Native Americans used to smoke the jagged-edged leaves of this native American plant, which grows across much of the continental United States. They did so to ease asthma, giving it the name asthma weed.