Find a plant by how you feel

Aloe

Aloe vera

A windowsill succulent: clear inner gel for burns — yellow latex is a harsh purgative.

irritable skin

Burdock

Arctium lappa

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

irritable skin

Calendula

Calendula officinalis

Pot marigold — the herbalist's everyday skin flower.

irritable skin

Chamomile

Matricaria chamomilla

A small daisy used for centuries as an evening tea for restlessness and mild digestive cramp.

irritable skin

Chickweed

Stellaria media

A tender star-flowered green for cooling itchy skin and a spring salad.

irritable skin

Cornflower

Centaurea cyanus

The true-blue field flower of old grain — edible petals, a cut stem, and an insectary that does not mind poor soil.

irritable skin

Dog rose

Rosa canina

The hedgerow rose — hips for winter vitamin C, petals for a cooling, fragrant cup.

irritable skin

Evening primrose

Oenothera biennis

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

irritable skin

Flax

Linum usitatissimum

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

irritable skin

Gotu kola

Centella asiatica

A marsh pennywort eaten for skin, memory folklore, and circulation — a salad herb in the tropics.

irritable skin

Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

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

irritable skin

Marshmallow

Althaea officinalis

A velvety marsh mallow whose root and leaf soothe raw mucosa.

irritable skin

Neem

Azadirachta indica

The village pharmacy tree of South Asia — a bitter leaf for skin and pests, and a seed oil that does not belong in a mug.

irritable skin

Oatstraw

Avena sativa

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

irritable skin

Oregon grape

Mahonia aquifolium

A holly-leaved west-coast shrub whose yellow root is a bitter berberine cousin of goldenseal.

irritable skin

Plantain

Plantago major

The ribbed lawn weed you step on — a first-aid leaf for bites and scrapes.

irritable skin

Red clover

Trifolium pratense

A magenta meadow blossom used as a gentle blood-and-skin tea.

irritable skin

Self-heal

Prunella vulgaris

The purple lawn mint you already step on — a traditional throat gargle and wound wash.

irritable skin

Slippery elm

Ulmus rubra

The mucilaginous inner bark of an American elm — a slippery tea for a raw throat and a raw gut.

irritable skin

Snow fungus

Tremella fuciformis

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

irritable skin

Tea tree

Melaleuca alternifolia

Paperbark of New South Wales — a topical oil plant, famously not the tea camellia, and not a beverage.

irritable skin

Witch hazel

Hamamelis virginiana

A winter-blooming shrub whose bark and leaf make the classic cooling astringent.

irritable skin