Archives: 2009 October

Star Anise

Latin Name: Illicium verum
Alternative Name: chinese anise
Forms Available: seed
Star Anise – illicium verum – All parts of this small, evergreen tree are aromatic; the smooth, gray-white bark, narrow to elliptic shiney green leaves; solitary yellow flowers; and glossy brown seeds. The distinctive seeds and pods are used as a spice in Asian cookery, notably [...]

Stevia

Latin Name: stevia rebaudiana
Forms Available: ground
Stevia – stevia rebaudiana – An herb used as a replacement for sugar or other non-nutritive sweeteners. The resulting extract from the stevia plant is roughly ten times sweeter than sugar. With Stevia, you must experiment until you get it right, some persons find it way too sweet. Dark green [...]

Strawberry, Wild

Latin Name: fragaria virginiana
Alternative Name: scarlet strawberry, virginia strawberry
Forms Available: root, leaf, fruit, tea
Wild Strawberry – fragaria virginiana – the fruit is very fragrant and tastes delicious, it is eaten raw, cooked or in preserves. The leaves make an herbal tea which has also been used as a tonic for the nerves. A tea [...]

Sumachs

Latin Name: rhus sp. rhus copallina, rhus glabra
Alternative Name: smooth sumac, upland sumach, dwarf sumac, sumac
Forms Available: bark, berry, leaf, root
Sumachs – rhus sp. – dwarf sumac: rhus copallina and smooth sumac: rhus glabra. Dwarf sumac: the root has been used to treat dysentery. Externally, a poultice of the root, treats skin sores and wounds. [...]

Sunflower

Latin Name: helianthus annuus
Alternative Name: corona solis, marigold of peru, solo indianus, chrysanthemum peruvianum
Forms Available: oil, flower, leaf, stalk, root , seed
Sunflower – helianthus annuus – This fast-growing annual has a thick, tall, hairy stem, heart-shaped leaves, and large yellow flower heads in late summer. The nutritious seeds are eaten raw, roasted, and ground into [...]

Swamp Milkweed

Latin Name: asclepias incarnata
Alternative Name: swamp silkweed, rose-colored silkweed, white indian hemp, incarnate swallowwort, flesh-colored asclepias.
Forms Available: root
Swamp Milkweed – asclepias incarnata – It is said that the tea can remove tapeworms from the body. A tea made from the root of the swamp milkweed has been used to treat asthma, worms, rheumatism [...]

Sweet Cicely

Latin Name: osmorhiza claytoni, myrrhis odorata
Alternative Name: smoother sweet cicely, cicely, anise fren, cow chervil, british myrrh, shepherd’s needle, sweet bracken, sweet chervil, woolly sweet-cicely, clayton’s sweetroot, hairy sweet-cicely
Forms Available: essential oil, root, leaf, seed
Sweet Cicely – osmorhiza claytoni, myrrhis odorata – This herb is expectorant, stomachic and carminative. It has been used to [...]

Sweet Gum

Latin Name: liquidambar styraciflua
Alternative Name: formosan gum, bilsted, copalm, gum wax
Forms Available: resin, bark, fruit, leaf, stem
Sweet Gum – liquidambar styraciflua – This plant has been used medicinally in the past. The leaves were used to treat growths, and the resin from the stems to treat boils, toothache and tuberculosis. The fruit was [...]

Sweet Marjoram

Latin Name: origanum marjorana
Alternative Name: knotted marjoram, mayorana
Forms Available: essential oil, leaf, stem
Sweet Majoram – origanum marjorana – a herb akin to oregano. This is a well used culinary herb. The leaves can be eaten both raw and cooked and is used to flavor many main dishes. The seeds are used in candies, desserts, [...]

Sweet Woodruff

Latin Name: galium odorata, galium odoratum, asperula odorata
Alternative Name: woodruff, woodward, waldmeister, master of the woods, sweet grass
Forms Available: leaf
Sweet Woodruff – galium odorata – The leaf of the sweet woodruff can be eaten raw or cooked. In Germany, in the spring, the leaves are soaked in white wine and drank, as a tonic, [...]