Find a plant by how you feel

Almond mushroom

Agaricus subrufescens

A Brazilian button mushroom that smells of almond — food first, immune-glucan folklore second.

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Amla

Phyllanthus emblica

Indian gooseberry — a sour, tannic fruit that Ayurveda treats as a rasayana, and that kitchens pickle in sugar and spice.

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Ashwagandha

Withania somnifera

Winter cherry root — an adaptogen for wired-and-tired nights, not a stimulant.

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Asian ginseng

Panax ginseng

The man-shaped root of East Asian tonic medicine — stamina folklore in a slow, expensive crop.

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Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis

A patient perennial — you wait two years, then eat the spears for a month each spring for twenty more.

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Astragalus

Astragalus mongholicus

A northern Chinese milkvetch root simmered for months of recovery — not an acute cold rescue.

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Avocado

Persea americana

A Mesoamerican berry with a giant seed — fat as food, not a toast personality, and not a pit tea.

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Bacopa

Bacopa monnieri

A pond-edge succulent of Ayurvedic memory folklore — a small white flower, a bitter leaf, a slow herb.

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Banana

Musa acuminata

The tropical berry we treat as a fruit — a seedless clone that travels green and ripens in the bowl.

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Beet

Beta vulgaris

A magenta kitchen root that stains the board — leaf and globe both food, with a folklore as a blood builder that is mostly the color talking.

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Black trumpet

Craterellus cornucopioides

The horn of plenty — a hollow gray-black chanterelle relative that smells of truffle and hides in the leaf litter on purpose.

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Blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum

An eastern acid-soil berry with a bloom on the skin — a pie fruit that will not grow in lime.

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Borage

Borago officinalis

Cucumber-leaf and a blue star flower — a kitchen curiosity with a liver caveat if you make a habit of it.

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Button mushroom

Agaricus bisporus

The same fungus three times — button, cremini, portobello — a kitchen mushroom you can grow on a block.

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Cacao

Theobroma cacao

Food of the gods — a cauliflorous rainforest tree whose seed became chocolate, and a traditional bitter tonic before it became dessert.

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Carrot

Daucus carota subsp. sativus

The orange kitchen root — a biennial you pull in year one, with a folklore about eyesight that outran the soup.

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Cassava

Manihot esculenta

Yuca — a tropical spurge whose root feeds hundreds of millions once it is peeled and cooked, and a poison if you treat it like an apple.

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Chaga

Inonotus obliquus

A charcoal-like birch canker simmered as a deep, vanilla-earth tonic — harvest with restraint.

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Chanterelle

Cantharellus cibarius

The golden forest vase — a prized edible whose blunt false gills separate it from lookalikes that cramp.

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Chicken of the woods

Laetiporus sulphureus

The sulfur shelf — a bright orange bracket that fries like chicken when young, and cramps when old, on the wrong tree, or in the wrong belly.

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Coca

Erythroxylum coca

An Andean shrub whose leaf is a traditional altitude chew — and the agricultural source of cocaine.

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Coffee

Coffea arabica

The cherry that runs the morning — a highland shrub whose roasted seed is the world’s most popular bitter.

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Cordyceps

Cordyceps militaris

Orange cultivated cordyceps used for stamina and lung Qi — buy militaris, not mystery 'Himalayan gold'.

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Corn

Zea mays

Maize — the American grass that became a continent’s grain, and a sweet summer cob if you pick it the day the silk browns.

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Dahlia

Dahlia × pinnata

Mexico’s original food tuber that Europe turned into a show bloom — petals for a salad, tubers for a dry-winter cellar.

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Damiana

Turnera diffusa

A small yellow-flowered shrub of Mexican dryland — a bitter-aromatic tea with a long bedroom reputation it has not entirely earned.

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Dandelion

Taraxacum officinale

The lawn's bitter physician — leaf as a potassium-rich diuretic, root as a liver bitter.

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Durian

Durio zibethinus

The spiny Southeast Asian fruit people argue about in elevators — custard if you like it, a gas leak if you do not.

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Eleuthero

Eleutherococcus senticosus

The Siberian cousin of ginseng — a thorny adaptogen of cold woods, not the man-root on the other plate.

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Enoki

Flammulina velutipes

The needle mushroom of hot-pot — food first, with a modest winter immune tradition in East Asia.

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Ephedra

Ephedra sinica

Ma huang — the desert shrub behind ephedrine. A regulated stimulant, not a kitchen tea.

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Fenugreek

Trigonella foenum-graecum

Maple-scented methi — a curry seed, a sprout, and a traditional milk-and-glucose folklore.

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Grape

Vitis vinifera

The vine that made wine, raisins, and a table cluster — food first, and a very old human partnership.

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Green bean

Phaseolus vulgaris

The snap pod of the common bean — pick young, cook, and do not confuse a tender filet with a raw red kidney.

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Hedgehog mushroom

Hydnum repandum

The sweet tooth — a pale woodland mushroom that wears spines instead of gills, and one of the kinder wild edibles once you have seen the underside.

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Holy basil

Ocimum tenuiflorum

Tulsi — the daily adaptogen tea of Indian households, peppery and clarifying.

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Jackfruit

Artocarpus heterophyllus

The giant mulberry-family fruit of South Asia — a ripe dessert of yellow bulbs, or an unripe savory that happens to shred.

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Kale

Brassica oleracea var. acephala

The unheaded cabbage — a winter green that smoothie culture rediscovered and cottage gardens never forgot.

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King oyster

Pleurotus eryngii

The steak of the oyster clan — a fat stem you sear, with the same gentle glucan bonus as its cousins.

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Kiwi

Actinidia deliciosa

A Chinese vine fruit that New Zealand renamed — emerald flesh, black seeds, and a fuzzy coat you can eat or not.

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Kratom

Mitragyna speciosa

A Southeast Asian coffee-family tree whose leaves act on opioid receptors — used for pain and withdrawal, and capable of dependence.

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Licorice

Glycyrrhiza glabra

Sweet root that soothes mucosa and supports adrenals — and can raise blood pressure if overused.

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Lychee

Litchi chinensis

A Chinese soapberry with a red shell — peel it, eat the glass-white aril, spit the seed, and do not make a meal of unripe fruit.

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Maca

Lepidium meyenii

An Andean mustard whose swollen root is a staple above 4,000 meters — stamina folklore in a radish.

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Maitake

Grifola frondosa

Hen-of-the-woods — a clustered oak fungus eaten for flavor and immune tone.

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Mangosteen

Garcinia mangostana

The white-segmented fruit under a purple shell — a Malay dessert, not a bottled ‘superfruit’ rind.

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Morel

Morchella esculenta

The honeycomb cap of spring woods — a culinary prize whose lookalikes hospitalize people.

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Moringa

Moringa oleifera

The drumstick tree — a tropical leaf-and-pod crop sold as a miracle, and honestly just a very good green.

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Nameko

Pholiota nameko

The amber, glossy soup mushroom of Japanese kitchens — a cultivated cluster whose slime is the point of the miso.

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Nettle

Urtica dioica

The mineral-rich weed that stings, then feeds — spring tonic, hay-fever leaf, prostate root.

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Oatstraw

Avena sativa

The same plant as breakfast — milky tops and straw as a traditional nervine food-tea.

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Orange

Citrus × sinensis

The sweet citrus of breakfast — a Chinese hybrid the world named after a color, or the color after the fruit.

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Oyster mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus

The easiest gourmet mushroom — food first, with a modest immune-supporting glucan bonus.

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Pea

Pisum sativum

A cool-season vine you eat as pod or seed — plant early, pick often, and never confuse it with a sweet pea.

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Pine

Pinus sylvestris

A bright, resinous needle tea from a tree you can name — never from a hedge you cannot.

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Pioppino

Cyclocybe aegerita

The poplar mushroom of Italian kitchens — a cultivated brown-capped cluster with a stem worth eating.

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Pomegranate

Punica granatum

A leathery fruit of the dry Mediterranean, packed with arils — juice and seed, not a rind tea.

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Porcini

Boletus edulis

The king bolete — a bun-capped woodland mushroom whose sponge pores, not gills, are the first ID lesson.

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Potato

Solanum tuberosum

The Andean tuber that feeds the world — and a nightshade whose green skin and sprouts are not supper.

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Pumpkin

Cucurbita pepo

A Mesoamerican winter squash we carved into a face — the food is the dry, sweet flesh and the seed.

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Rambutan

Nephelium lappaceum

A hairy red soapberry of the Malay world — peel the soft spines, eat the glass aril, spit the seed.

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Reishi

Ganoderma lucidum

The lacquered 'mushroom of immortality' — a bitter decoction for recovery, sleep, and immune tone.

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Rhodiola

Rhodiola rosea

Rose-root of the Arctic — an adaptogen for fatigue that can also overstimulate.

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Roselle

Hibiscus sabdariffa

The crimson sour calyx behind agua de jamaica — a cooling, tart drink for heat and blood pressure folklore.

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Schisandra

Schisandra chinensis

The five-flavor berry of Chinese tonic medicine — sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, and salty in one hanging cluster.

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Sesame

Sesamum indicum

The seed that opens — a hot-season crop whose paste is tahini and whose oil is the quiet fat of a dozen kitchens.

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Shiitake

Lentinula edodes

The farmable forest mushroom — food first, immune-modulating lentinan as a bonus.

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Snow fungus

Tremella fuciformis

A translucent white jelly used in Chinese kitchens for skin, lung Yin, and a silky soup.

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Spinach

Spinacia oleracea

A Persian green that bolts when the days lengthen — cook a pile, because it vanishes in the pan.

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Strawberry

Fragaria × ananassa

The garden berry that is not a true berry — a swollen receptacle wearing seeds on the outside, and a June that does not keep.

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Sunflower

Helianthus annuus

A tall disk for seed, oil, and bees — and a living stake that shades a cucumber in July.

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Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

A tropical morning-glory grown for its sweet orange (or white, or purple) storage root — not a yam, not a potato.

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Taro

Colocasia esculenta

The elephant-ear starch of the wet tropics — a cooked corm and a cooked green, and a mouthful of needles if you skip the heat.

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Tea

Camellia sinensis

The camellia that filled the kettle — one shrub, a thousand names, and a caffeine cup older than the porcelain.

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Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

The kitchen-garden berry we treat as a vegetable — acid, sweet, and the color of a summer table.

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Turkey tail

Trametes versicolor

Zoned fans on dead wood — the best-studied medicinal polypore for immune support beside treatment, not instead of it.

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Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

An African melon that is mostly water and a summer argument about who gets the heart.

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Wood ear

Auricularia auricula-judae

A rubbery ear on elder wood — crunch in soup, and a traditional blood-moving food in Chinese cooking.

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