Medicinal Herbs | Index of Herbs

Aloe vera plant with thick gray-green succulent leaves and a botanical inset of leaf cross-section showing clear gel and yellow latex, flower spike, and leaf tip

Monograph

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera

Aloe vera, sold on many labels under its synonym Aloe barbadensis, is a spiny-edged succulent whose leaves hold three quite different produc...

Oil painting of an amla tree laden with pale green fruit at the edge of a dry Indian forest in golden light, with a botanical inset of a shoot with two rows of small leaves, tiny yellow flower clusters, and a round fruit

Monograph

Amla

Phyllanthus emblica

Amla is the sour, pale green fruit of Phyllanthus emblica, a deciduous tree of South and Southeast Asia known in English as Indian gooseberr...

Oil painting of leafy andrographis plants at a sunlit field edge in dry tropical Indian countryside, with a botanical inset of square stems, lance-shaped leaves, small white two-lipped flowers with purple spots, and narrow seed pods

Monograph

Andrographis

Andrographis paniculata

Andrographis is an intensely bitter annual herb from South Asia, sold today mostly as a cold and flu remedy. Andrographis paniculata belongs...

Oil painting of tall garden angelica with domed greenish-white umbels on a misty Norwegian riverbank below a fjord, with a botanical inset of a large divided leaf, a globe-shaped umbel, ridged fruits, and a thick root

Monograph

Angelica

Angelica archangelica

Angelica is the great aromatic herb of the far north. Garden angelica, Angelica archangelica, is a tall member of the carrot family (Apiacea...

Oil painting of yellow arnica flowers in a golden-hour alpine meadow with mountains and a wooden hut, with a botanical inset of a basal rosette of oval leaves, a daisy-like yellow flower head with ragged rays, and a fluffy seed head

Monograph

Arnica

Arnica montana

Arnica is a mountain daisy with a split reputation. Arnica montana is a yellow-flowered perennial of poor, acidic grasslands and mountain me...

Oil painting of silvery globe artichoke plants (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) in a Mediterranean field at golden hour, with a botanical inset of a lobed silver-green leaf, a closed bud of overlapping bracts, and a violet thistle flower

Monograph

Artichoke

Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus

The artichoke on a dinner plate and the artichoke in a supplement capsule come from the same plant but from different parts of it. The veget...

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) in dry scrubland with ovate leaves, lantern calyces around orange berries, and a botanical inset of taproot, leaf, and inflated calyx

Monograph

Ashwagandha

Withania somnifera

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is a Solanaceae shrub whose Sanskrit name means horse smell. Ayurveda used the root as a rasayana tonic for...

Oil painting of astragalus (Astragalus mongholicus) with pale yellow pea flowers on a northern Chinese hillside, with a botanical inset of a pinnate leaf, inflated pods, and sliced yellow root

Monograph

Astragalus

Astragalus mongholicus

Astragalus root, huang qi in Chinese, is one of the great tonic herbs of traditional Chinese medicine. A 2023 review by Wang and colleagues...

Oil painting of bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) creeping along the edge of an Indian rice paddy with small white flowers, with a botanical inset of a creeping stem, fleshy leaves, and a flower

Monograph

Bacopa

Bacopa monnieri

Bacopa is a small creeping herb of wet ground that Ayurvedic medicine has prized for centuries as brahmi, a medhya rasayana or rejuvenating...

Oil painting of a barberry shrub hung with scarlet berries beside a golden wheat field, with a botanical inset of a leafy sprig with oval leaves, a drooping spray of small yellow cup-shaped flowers, and a hanging cluster of oblong red berries

Monograph

Barberry

Berberis vulgaris

Barberry is a thorny shrub with two reputations, one in the kitchen and one in the supplement aisle. Berberis vulgaris, the common or Europe...

Oil painting of a tall, buttressed bibhitaki tree in a sunlit monsoon forest in India, with a botanical inset of obovate leaves crowded at a shoot tip, a spike of small greenish flowers, and round, velvety grey-brown fruits

Monograph

Bibhitaki

Terminalia bellirica

Bibhitaki is the fruit of Terminalia bellirica, a tall deciduous forest tree of South and Southeast Asia, and it is best known as one of the...

Oil painting of white bitter candytuft on a bare chalk bank above a summer wheat field, with a botanical inset of a flat flower cluster with two large and two small petals, a toothed leaf, and notched, winged seed pods

Monograph

Bitter Candytuft

Iberis amara

Bitter candytuft (Iberis amara) is a small, white-flowered annual of the mustard family that grows on bare chalk slopes and in arable fields...

Oil painting of black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) with tall white flower wands in an Appalachian forest, with a botanical inset of the knotted rhizome, a leaf, and a raceme

Monograph

Black Cohosh

Actaea racemosa

Black cohosh is a tall woodland plant of eastern North America whose dark, knotted rhizome has become one of the best-known herbal remedies...

Oil painting of black pepper vines climbing tall shade trees on a misty green hillside in the Western Ghats, with a botanical inset of a glossy pointed leaf, a hanging spike of green and red berries, and dried peppercorns

Monograph

Black Pepper

Piper nigrum

Black pepper is the dried fruit of Piper nigrum, a woody climbing vine in the pepper family (Piperaceae), and the source of what nutrition s...

Oil painting of black seed (Nigella sativa) with pale blue flowers and feathery leaves in a Middle Eastern field, with a botanical inset of a flower, a seed capsule, and black seeds

Monograph

Black Seed

Nigella sativa

Black seed, the small, angular black seed of Nigella sativa, is both a kitchen spice and one of the most revered remedies of Islamic and Sou...

Oil painting of Indian frankincense trees (Boswellia serrata) with peeling bark on dry rocky hills, with a botanical inset of a compound leaf, a flower spray, and golden resin tears

Monograph

Boswellia

Boswellia serrata

Boswellia is the gum resin of Boswellia serrata, a tree of dry hills in India known as Indian frankincense or salai guggul. Resin that seeps...

Greater burdock (Arctium lappa) at a meadow edge with large heart-shaped leaves, purple burr flower heads, and a botanical inset of taproot, leaf, and hooked burr

Monograph

Burdock

Arctium lappa

Burdock (Arctium lappa) is a Eurasian daisy-family biennial whose hooked burrs hitch a ride on wool and invented a fastener. The first-year...

Butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus) in Mediterranean woodland with spine-tipped cladodes, central flowers, red berries, and a botanical inset of rhizome, cladode with flower, and fruit

Monograph

Butcher's Broom

Ruscus aculeatus

Butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus) is a low evergreen Mediterranean shrub whose “leaves” are not leaves. They are flattened stems—cladodes—w...

Oil painting of butterbur (Petasites hybridus) carpeting a shaded streambank with huge rhubarb-like leaves, with a botanical inset of the pinkish early-spring flower spike that appears before the leaves, a giant heart-shaped leaf, and the rhizome

Monograph

Butterbur

Petasites hybridus

Butterbur is a streamside plant of Europe and western Asia with some of the largest leaves of any wild plant in Britain: rounded, heart-shap...

Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) glowing orange and yellow in an oil-painted Mediterranean cottage garden at golden hour, with a parchment botanical inset of a double flower head, a single ray floret, ridged seeds, and a leaf

Monograph

Calendula

Calendula officinalis

Calendula is the pot marigold of European cottage gardens: an easy annual with orange or yellow flower heads that open in the sun and close...

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Herb library

Aloe Vera

Amla

Andrographis

Angelica

Arnica

Artichoke

Ashwagandha

Astragalus

Bacopa

Barberry

Bibhitaki

Bitter Candytuft

Black Cohosh

Black Pepper

Black Seed

Boswellia

Burdock

Butcher's Broom

Butterbur

Calendula