Nature’s Apothecary

Herbs have been used for centuries to cure all manner of ailments. They were especially important as home remedies for the many people without access to a trained physician before the advent of affordable healthcare. In the Middle Ages, monastery gardens were used to cultivate plants to treat not only their own house, but also the secular community that surrounded them. Information about the medicinal properties of plants was gathered into books known as herbals, which gained a much increased audience with the advent of printing. Nature’s Apothecary features a selection of 100 plants showing how not only herbs but also flowers, fruit and vegetables have been used in different ways for medicinal purposes. Exquisite colour illustrations from the renowned Herball by John Gerard, first published in 1597, accompany short narratives describing the social, cultural and historical importance of plants growing naturally in the hedgerows and meadows, and in gardens, as well as more exotic flowers from further afield, drawn from the writings of a range of herbalists including John Gerard, Nicholas Culpeper and Elizabeth Blackwell. Together, they give a fascinating history of nature’s extraordinary role in both formal and folk medicine.