Category: Plant Profiles
English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.): Botanical Versatility
English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.): Botanical Versatility Contributed by: Nicole Ramsay Binomial Name Lavandula angustifolia Mill. Synonyms Lavandula officinalis Chaix Lavandula spica L., nom. utique rej. Lavandula vera DC. (USDA, n.d.) Common Names True lavender (MBG, n.d.), Garden lavender, lavender, English lavender, lavendel (German), Echter lavendel (German), Schmalblatt-lavendel (German), lavande (French), lavande officinale (French), lavande vraie (French), lavande à feuilles étroites (French), lavanta (Turkish), lavendel (Danish), alfazema (Portuguese), lavanda (Portuguese), Keskenylevelű levendula (Hungarian), lavandel (Swedish), levandule lékařská (Czech),...
Nicole Ramsay /
December 13, 2022
Ginkgo
The Ginkgo tree is easily identified by its unique fan-shaped leaves, and it is the sole remaining member of its evolutionary family, Ginkgoaceae (Isah 2015).
Sarah, Vanessa & Sofia /
November 1, 2021
Purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata); an important plant in ethnomedicine
Passiflora incarnata, or purple passionflower, is one of about 520 species in the passionflower family worldwide
Andrea J Moreau /
November 7, 2020
Black Cumin: A miracle herb
“In the black seed is the medicine [to cure] every disease except death”–Arab Proverb
Emily McFaul /
November 7, 2020
Sage (Salvia Officinalis L.)
Botanical Description Sage (S. officinalis) is a perennial shrub with a woody base. This plant has a rounded shape, (Figure 1), and can grow up to a maximum of 60-70 cm in both height and width (Ghorbani, 2016). The stem fragments of S. officinalis are four sided, as are the branches coming off the base, which itself varies from a wedge-shaped to a rounded shape. The petiole, which connects the leaf to the stem is long, approximately 4.5 cm in...
Hailey Silver /
July 2, 2020
Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera): A potential commercial crop with medicinal advantages
Distribution and Botanical Identifiers Ashwagandha (W. somnifera) grows well in arid environments and is most commonly found in the dry areas of Southeast Asia and Mediterranean regions and is also commonly cultivated outside of its natural habitat (Engels & Brinckmann, 2013a; Aslam et al., 2017). Ashwagandha is a woody shrub that grows up to 1.5 meters tall (Aslam et al., 2017). It has perfect, actinomorphic flowers with five yellow petals, five green sepals, five stamens and one pistil. The...
Andrea J Moreau /
July 2, 2020
The Lipstick Tree
So much more than a cosmetic
Marina Vera Ku, Maria Angeles Poot Cab, Victoria Gurevich /
April 30, 2020
Gingko
Ginkgo biloba, also called the maidenhair tree, is branded as a “living fossil”, as it is the only surviving member of the Ginkgo genus. Traditionally, G. biloba was used to treat asthma and senility. More commonly, the nut is used for culinary practices and is often used as an addition to a meal as a side dish or garnish for a dessert
Jacqueline Nguyen, Kyeesha Ocampo, Alicia Rosati /
September 24, 2018
Ayahuasca
Over the last 20 odd years, interest towards the medicinal and spiritual properties of ayahuasca has grown immensely outside its area of origin, leading to increased consumption of raw materials which in turn has raised concerns that B. caapi and its admixtures are not being harvested sustainably.
Dalton Smith, Tanja Gaehwiler, Curtis Spoelstra /
July 14, 2017
Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.)
Sacred Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) is the national flower of India and Vietnam and is widely employed for religious or spiritual purposes around the world. In honour of our first issue, the plant profile is dedicated to the ethereal sacred lotus, the flower which graces our spiritual botany logo.
Christina E. Turi and Praveen K. Saxena /
November 3, 2016