Find a plant by how you feel

Blue vervain

Verbena hastata

A candelabra of purple spikes in wet ground — a bitter American nervine of the old Eclectic physicians.

headache

Coffee

Coffea arabica

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

headache

Feverfew

Tanacetum parthenium

Tiny daisy chewed (or encapsulated) to cut the frequency of migraine — a prevention herb, not a rescue drug.

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Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Silver-leaved Mediterranean shrub; the scent alone is a documented mild anxiolytic.

headache

Meadowsweet

Filipendula ulmaria

Creamy meadow plumes that smell of almond and aspirin — a stomach-kinder willow analog.

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Peppermint

Mentha × piperita

A hybrid mint whose menthol cools the gut and opens the sinuses — classic after-dinner leaf.

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Spearmint

Mentha spicata

The sweeter garden mint — less menthol fire, more green candy. A children’s and after-dinner leaf.

headache

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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White willow

Salix alba

Riverside tree whose bitter bark is the folk parent of aspirin, used for dull inflammatory pain.

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Wintergreen

Gaultheria procumbens

A low eastern woodland evergreen that tastes of toothpaste — a salicylate leaf, and an oil that is a poison-control regular.

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