Symptom index
Find a plant by how you feel
Type a symptom — cough, sleep, skin — or tap a chip. Matching plates, teas, and remedies rise to the top. This is a folk index, not a diagnosis.
14 plates for low mood
Ashwagandha
Withania somnifera
Winter cherry root — an adaptogen for wired-and-tired nights, not a stimulant.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
Ayahuasca vines
Banisteriopsis caapi
An Amazonian liana, the MAOI half of a ceremonial brew — listed here so the legal and medical stakes are visible.
low mood
1/1RestrictedCaution
Black cohosh
Actaea racemosa
A woodland candle whose rhizome is a menopause herb with a real liver signal on extracts.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
Cacao
Theobroma cacao
Food of the gods — a cauliflorous rainforest tree whose seed became chocolate, and a traditional bitter tonic before it became dessert.
low mood
1/1LegalGentle
Chaste tree
Vitex agnus-castus
A lilac-like Mediterranean shrub whose peppercorn berries are a cycle herb with a hormone reputation.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
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.
low mood
1/1LegalGentle
Heartsease
Viola tricolor
A small three-colored face for salad, sugar, and a cool-season edge that does not mind sitting with lettuce.
low mood
1/1LegalGentle
Lion's mane
Hericium erinaceus
The pom-pom fungus eaten as crab-like food and taken for focus and nerve support.
low mood
1/1LegalGentle
Maca
Lepidium meyenii
An Andean mustard whose swollen root is a staple above 4,000 meters — stamina folklore in a radish.
low mood
1/1LegalGentle
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii
A small, spineless desert cactus, sacred in Native American Church ceremony and illegal to possess for almost everyone else.
low mood
1/1RestrictedCaution
Psilocybe mushrooms
Psilocybe cubensis
A well-known psychoactive woodland and pasture genus, now in clinical trials for depression — still illegal to grow or possess in most places.
low mood
1/1RestrictedCaution
Rhodiola
Rhodiola rosea
Rose-root of the Arctic — an adaptogen for fatigue that can also overstimulate.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
Saffron
Crocus sativus
Three red threads from a sterile autumn crocus — the dearest spice on earth, and a traditional mood-and-digestion pinch.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
St. John's wort
Hypericum perforatum
Sunshine-yellow roadside herb for low mood — famous, effective in mild cases, and a notorious interactor.
low mood
1/1LegalCaution
Teas for the same symptoms
Medicinal teas
Household protocols