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  • Brillantaisia ulugurica Lindau, Acanthaceae. Giant salvia. Tropical herbaceous plant. Distribution: Tropical Africa. Brillantaisia patula is used by the Yoruba in south Nigeria for small-pox medication, the roots being mixed with Bahia nitida and Marantolchloa leucantha, Piper guineense and snails. This is made into a soup and the snail piece eaten to protect against smallpox for a year (Neuwinger, 1994) which doubtless was effective after the global eradication of smallpox in 1979. Brillantaisia nitens is used in the Cameroons to treat cardiovascular disorders. Phytochemical screening of Brillantaisia species have shown antibacterial action, vascular smooth muscle relaxant properties. Kew reports their use as soap
  • Coccolithophore
  • Diatom frustule, SEM
  • Hepatica nobilis Mill. Ranunculaceae. Liverwort - not to be confused with the lichen of the same name. Distribution: North America. Liverwort (‘liver plant’): discontinued herbal medicine for disorders of the liver. The name and the use to which the Liverworts have been put medicinally is suggested, according to the doctrine of signatures, by the shape of the leaves which are three-lobed, like the liver. It is little used in modern herbalism but was employed in treating disorders of the liver and gall bladder, indigestion etc. It is highly toxic. Hepatica acutiloba was widely used for liver disorders in the 1880s, with up to 200,000 kilos of leaves being harvested per annum to make liver tonics - which eventually caused jaundice. Gerard (1633) calls it Hepaticum trifolium, Noble Liverwort, Golden Trefoile and herbe Trinity and writes: 'It is reported to be good against weakness of the liver which proceedeth from a hot cause, for it cooleth and strengtheneth it not a little. ' He adds ' Baptista Sardus[a Piedmontese physician fl. 1500] commendeth it and writeth that the chiefe vertue is in the root
  • Centaurea hypoleuca 'John Coutts'
  • HeLa cell, immortal human epithelial cancer cell line, SEM
  • Healthy adult human brain viewed from below, tractography
  • Ripening blackberry
  • Dermatofibroma, LM
  • Rehmannia angulata (Oliv.)Hemsl. Scrophulariaceae Chinese foxglove. Distribution: China. Named for Joseph Rehmann ((1753-1831) German physician (Stearn, 1994) who emigrated to St Petersburg and became the personal physician to Tsar Nicholas 1. Rehmannia glutinosa is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for arthritis. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Cortical bone mapping of hip from computed tomography
  • Raynaud's Phenomenon
  • Kidney stone
  • Stachys byzantina K.Koch also known as Stachys lanata. Lamiaceae. Lamb's Ears. Distribution: Europe. Its woolly leaves were regarded as a vulnery, to stop bleeding, which it would have done in a manner similar to cotton-wool, allowing platelets to clot on its hairs. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Woodlouse, SEM
  • Varicose Veins, Legs. Female. Illustrated with thermography
  • Adipose Tissue
  • HeLa cell, immortal human epithelial cancer cell line, SEM
  • Squamous carcinoma of lacrimal gland, microscopy
  • Onion ring
  • Felicia amelloides 'Astrid Thomas'
  • Knee joint, murine, LM
  • Thermogram of normal hand
  • Zebrafish mechanosensory neuron
  • Calvarial (skull) osteocytes, murine, THG and SHG
  • Human epithelial cells colonised by Neisseria cinerea
  • Future element
  • Lung cancer cells treated with nano sized drug carriers
  • Callicarpa bodinieri var giraldii 'Profusion'
  • Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography