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.

inflammation

Birch

Betula pendula

A mild, green, slightly wintergreen spring cup from young birch leaf — not a methyl-salicylate binge.

inflammation

Borage

Borago officinalis

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

inflammation

Burdock

Arctium lappa

The burr that invented Velcro — a deep bitter root for skin and sluggish digestion.

inflammation

Chaga

Inonotus obliquus

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

inflammation

Cinnamon

Cinnamomum verum

The inner bark that built a trade — blood-sugar folklore, a kitchen spice, and a tropical tree.

inflammation

Devil’s claw

Harpagophytum procumbens

A Kalahari trailer whose hooked fruit named it, and whose tuber is a bitter joint folklore — buy farmed, do not strip the desert.

inflammation

Evening primrose

Oenothera biennis

A dusk-opening yellow native whose seed oil is taken for skin and cycle folklore.

inflammation

Fenugreek

Trigonella foenum-graecum

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

inflammation

Feverfew

Tanacetum parthenium

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

inflammation

Flax

Linum usitatissimum

Blue flower, brown seed, linen in the stem — a cool-season crop for porridge, oil, and cloth.

inflammation

Frankincense

Boswellia sacra

The tears of a desert tree — temple smoke, and a boswellic-acid joint folklore in a resin that should be farmed, not stripped.

inflammation

Ginger

Zingiber officinale

A tropical rhizome for queasy stomachs, cold hands, and dull inflammatory ache.

inflammation

Horsetail

Equisetum arvense

A living fossil of jointed green stems — silica folklore for hair and bone, and a weed that will own a wet bed.

inflammation

Maitake

Grifola frondosa

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

inflammation

Milk thistle

Silybum marianum

Spiny purple thistle whose seeds are the classic liver trophorestorative.

inflammation

Moringa

Moringa oleifera

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

inflammation

Myrrh

Commiphora myrrha

The other temple resin — a thorny Somali and Arabian shrub whose bitter gum is incense, a mouthwash, and a nativity prop.

inflammation

Olive

Olea europaea

The silver tree of the Mediterranean — oil, fruit, and a bitter leaf with a long heart-folklore.

inflammation

Pineapple

Ananas comosus

A South American bromeliad that wears a crown — a ripe yellow flesh, and a core that is fiber, not a cleanse.

inflammation

Purslane

Portulaca oleracea

The lemony succulent in the cracks of the driveway — a salad weed richer in omega-3 than most garden greens.

inflammation

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.

inflammation

Shiitake

Lentinula edodes

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

inflammation

Sorrel

Rumex acetosa

The lemon of the temperate garden — arrow leaves that sharpen soup and fish, with a French pedigree.

inflammation

Turmeric

Curcuma longa

Golden rhizome of South Asian cooking, taken for stiff joints and low-grade inflammation.

inflammation

White willow

Salix alba

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

inflammation