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49 results
  • Waterloo caesarean evergreen cabbage of English growth... / agent for the west end circulation, J. Moss.
  • The challenge of AIDS : a talk/workshop with Arif Dyrud, B.A.Dip.Ed. D.S.H. : Tuesday 7th March 1989, 8.00pm at The Evergreen Clinic of Homoeopathy.
  • Geranium maderense Yeo Geraniaceae Tender evergreen biennial. Madeira cranesbill. Distribution: Madeira. Solely grown for its spectacular flowers. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Geranium maderense Yeo Geraniaceae Tender evergreen biennial. Madeira cranesbill. Distribution: Madeira. Solely grown for its spectacular flowers. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Rohdea japonica Roth Convallariaceae Distribution: Japan. It is a monotypic genus known as omoto in Japan, meaning ‘evergreen’. It is regarded as a symbol of long life and good fortune
  • Mahonia japonica DC. Berberidaceae. Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China, although long cultivated in Japan. Listed as an ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicines. No European or modern medicinal use. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Garrya elliptica Douglas ex Lindl. Garryaceae. Coast silk tassel. Evergreen shrub. Distribution: California and southern Oregon. Named for Nicholas Garry, Secretary of the Hudson Bay Company (1820-1830) who assisted David Douglas in his exploration of the Pacific Northwest (Stearn, 1992). Used by Pomo and Kashaya as an abortifacient and to induce menstruation (Moerman, 1998). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Camellia sasanqua Thunb. Theaceae. Christmas camellia. Camellia commemorates Georg Josef Kamel (1661-1706), Jesuit pharmacist from Moravia (Czech Republic) who worked in the Philippines and sent plants to John Ray in England (Oakeley, 2012) Evergreen shrub. Distribution: Japan and China. Leaves are used in Japan to make tea (normally made from C. sinensis) and the seeds to make the edible tea seed oil. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Adiantum venustum D.Don Adiantaceae (although placed by some in Pteridaceae). Himalayan maidenhair fern. Small evergreen hardy fern. Distribution: Afghanistan-India. It gains its vernacular name from the wiry black stems that resemble hairs. Adiantum comes from the Greek for 'dry' as the leaflets remain permanently dry. The Cherokee used A. pedatum to make their hair shiny. Henry Lyte (1576), writing on A. capillus-veneris, notes that it restores hair, is an antidote to the bites of mad dogs and venomous beasts
  • Viburnum japonicum Spreng. Caprifoliaceae Distribution: Evergreen Shrub. Distribution: Japan and Taiwan. No medicinal uses. The fruit is a 'famine food' eaten when all else fails. As other seeds/fruits of Viburnum species are listed as poisonous, and none are listed as 'edible', one can assume that the seeds/fruits of V. japonicum are also toxic. It does not appear vulnerable to pests or molluscs which may be due to irioid glycosides that are present in this genus produced as a defence against herbivores, fungi and bacteria. They have a bitter taste. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Viburnum japonicum Spreng. Caprifoliaceae Evergreen Shrub. Distribution: Japan and Taiwan. No medicinal uses. The fruit is a 'famine food' eaten when all else fails. As other seeds/fruits of Viburnum species are listed as poisonous, and none are listed as 'edible', one can assume that the seeds/fruits of V. japonicum are also toxic. It does not appear vulnerable to pests or molluscs which may be due to irioid glycosides that are present in this genus produced as a defence against herbivores, fungi and bacteria. They have a bitter taste. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Viburnum japonicum Spreng. Caprifoliaceae Distribution: Evergreen Shrub. Distribution: Japan and Taiwan. No medicinal uses. The fruit is a 'famine food' eaten when all else fails. As other seeds/fruits of Viburnum species are listed as poisonous, and none are listed as 'edible', one can assume that the seeds/fruits of V. japonicum are also toxic. It does not appear vulnerable to pests or molluscs which may be due to irioid glycosides that are present in this genus produced as a defence against herbivores, fungi and bacteria. They have a bitter taste. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Achillea millefolium L. Asteraceae. Yarrow or sneezewort, the latter because ground up it made a snuff to induce sneezing. Evergreen, herbaceous perennial. Distribution: Europe, Asia and North America. Dioscorides calls it Achilles’ woundwort, sideritis, writing that the ground-up foliage closes bleeding wounds, relieves inflammation and stops uterine bleeding. Gerard (1633) says that put up one’s nose it causes a nosebleed and so stops migraines. Named for the Greek warrior, Achilles, who used this plant for healing wounds – having been taught its properties by his teacher, Chiron the centaur. Millefolium because of the thousands of fronds that make up the leaf, and which, when applied to a bleeding wound, facilitate coagulation by platelets. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Osmanthus delavayi Franch. Oleaceae Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China. Osmanthus is derived from the Greek for 'fragrant flower', delavayi from its discoverer, the French Missionary with the Missions Étrangères, and plant collector, Pierre Delavay (1834-1895). He sent 200,000 herbarium specimens containing 4000 species including 1,500 new species to Franchet at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He sent seed of O. delavayi to France (1886), but only one germinated, and all the plants in cultivation until it was recollected 40 years later, arose from this plant (Bretschneider, 1896). The flowers are used to make a tea in China, but the berries (drupes) are not regarded as edible. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Solanum laciniatum Aiton Solanaceae. Kangaroo Apple. Evergreen shrub. Distribution: New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. It contains steroidal saponins that can be converted into steroids, including progesterone, oestrogens, cortisone, prednisolone etc. In 1943, Professor Russell Marker discovered a method of obtaining an unsaturated steroidal saponine, diosogenin, from Mexican yam (Dioscorea mexicana), which can easily and cheaply be converted into steroids, such as prednisone and progesterone, reducing the price of steroid production to a fraction (0.5%) of its former cost. For 20 years drug companies showed little interest, and it was only as a result of Professor Marker forming his own company, and the concerted efforts of several gynaecologists, physiologists and birth-control advocates, that the contraceptive pill was ‘born’ in 1960. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Arbor-vitae (Thuja obtusa): branch with leaves. Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • Arbor-vitae (Thuja dolabrata): branch with leaves. Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • A branch of Japanese fir (Abies firma). Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • White pine (Podocarpus chinensis): branch with leaves. Pencil drawing by S. Kawano.
  • A pine branch. Pencil drawing by S. Kawano.
  • Sawara cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera): branch with leaves. Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa): branch with leaves. Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • Yew (Taxus species): leafy stem with fruits. Watercolour.
  • Two leafy stems with fruit, one is possibly of Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata). Watercolour.
  • Japanese box (Buxus microphylla): branch with leaves. Coloured pen drawing by S. Kawano.
  • Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica): branch with leaves. Watercolour by S. Kawano.
  • Japanese persimmon fruit (Diospyros kaki) and a leafy stem of yew (Taxus species). Watercolour.
  • Cedar (Cedrus sp.): tree with separate segments of cones and leaves. Coloured engraving by J.J. or J.E. Haid, c.1750, after G.D.Ehret.
  • Cedar trees (Cedrus species) in a garden in Monmouthshire. Photogravure by R. Fenton, ca. 1856.
  • Spurge laurel plant (Daphne laureola) with an associated moth and its anatomical segments. Coloured etching, c. 1831.