Stories
- Article
Plant portraits
The beautiful and mysterious illustrations in medieval herbals convey a wealth of knowledge about the plants they portray.
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Hunting lost plants in botanical collections
A bark specimen at Kew recalls the story of a South American man who harvested the most potent source of the only effective malaria treatment available in the late 1800s. Killed for his work and forgotten by history, Manuel Mamani was a victim of the colonial juggernaut.
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Illuminated manuscripts, illuminating medicines
From rare bugs to exorbitantly priced plant parts, find out more about the artistic and medical uses of pigments from the past.
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The healing power of the physic garden
Having experienced the healing power of plants and gardens, Iona Glen goes in search of present-day “physic gardens” and their origins in history.
Catalogue
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Carthamus tinctorius L. Asteraceae. Safe Flower, False Saffron - Distribution: W. Asia. Dioscorides (in Beck, 2003) notes the seeds as a purgative, but also advises it made up with 30 figs, which must have helped. Gerard (1640) calls it Atractylis flore luteo the yellow distaffe thistle. and follows Dioscorides in its uses, but does get the reader confused with Cnicus benedictus, calling both plants 'wild bastard saffron'. Culpeper makes no mention of it in his early works, but later (1826) have the following: ‘Wild Saffon, or Saf-flower ... accounted a pretty strong cathartic [causing diarrhoea and vomiting], evacuating tough viscid phlegm, both upwards and downwards, and by that means is said to clear the lungs, and help the phthisic [now equated with tuberculosis]. It is likewise serviceable against the jaundice
Dr Henry Oakeley- Books
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Assistant plates to the materia medica ; or, figures of such plants and animals as are used in medicine : adapted to the most celebrated treatises on the materia medica / by William Curtis.
Curtis William, 1746-1799.Date: 1786- Books
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Hortus medicus, or figures and descriptions of the more important plants used in medicine, or possessed of poisonous qualities; with their medical properties, chemical analysis, &c. &c. ... The chemical and medical departments by John Davie Morries / by George Graves.
Date: 1834- Books
The gardener's companion to medicinal plants : an A-Z of healing plants and home remedies / Monique Simmonds, Melanie-Jayne Howes and Jason Irving.
Simmonds, Monique S. J.Date: 2016- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
Burroughs Wellcome & Co, Private Letter Book 9
Date: February 1902 - May 1902Reference: WF/E/03/09Part of: Wellcome Foundation Ltd