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Spanish needles
Latin name: Bidens alba – AsteraceaeCommon name: Spanish needle, beggarticks, shepherd’s needle, butterfly needle, pitchfork weed, ottrancedi, xian feng cao, gui zhen cao Uses: There are approximately 250 species within the genus Bidens. All occur within tropical and warm, temperate climates — roughly 7-8 of which grow in Florida. All-star of the genus — Bidens alba — is one of our greatest Central Florida plant allies. We use the plant’s aerial parts, but the plant’s older leaves contain saponins and are unpleasant in taste and for the tummy. Therefore, the plant’s young tender leaves are ideal for medicinal and nutritional uses. The list of actions for B. alba is vast. Stephen Buhner provides a quick list of…
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Betony
Latin name: Stachys floridana – Lamiaceae (Mint Family) Common name: Florida betony, wild radish, rattlesnake weed, Florida hedgenettle Usage: The tubers of S. floridana are used as food and have a crisp, sweet taste. They can be eaten raw in salads and also make a stellar pickle. Harvest the tubers from late winter until spring. If the season has been dry, the tubers may not be as abundant. Once the weather heats up the tubers die back and become soft and brown. S. floridana is a relative of Stachys affinis, or crosnes, whose tuber is sold and utilized as a gourmet food. The leaves and flowers are used in a…
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Violet
March – Violet Latin name: Viola odorata, Viola affinis, Viola sororia, Viola tricolor, (and related species) – Family: Violaceae Common name: Violet, sweet violet, common blue violet, common wood violet, heartsease Usage: There are anywhere between 525 to 600 species within the Viola genus. Identification of species can be challenging, but according to many sources this is not of great importance, so long as you are positive on the genus – Viola. This beloved garden plant not only delights us with the beautiful purple flowers of its namesake, but also offers us sweet, cooling, anti-inflammatory medicine. The leaf and flower are both utilized for cooling hot…
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Spearmint
Latin name: Mentha spicata (aka M. viridis or M. sativa) Family: Lamiaceae Common name: Spearmint, garden mint Usage: There are hundreds of varieties of cultivars within the mint family, many of which are used for their pleasant taste and medicinal value. One such variety is spearmint; utilized for its stimulant, carminative, antimicrobial and antispasmodic properties, with a long history of use in soothing digestive upset (nausea, gas, bloating). Steven Foster states, “Spearmint…has a much longer history of medicinal use than peppermint. It was so commonly grown and used that it was rarely described in herbals; it is known to have been cultivated in every convent garden in Europe by the…
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Dagga
Latin name: Leonotis nepetifolia Family: LamiaceaeCommon names: Dagga, Klip dagga, Lion’s ear, Shandilay Growth: Erect, loosely branched annual that can get 8 ft tall. The stems are starkly square and leaves are smooth, with toothed margins, and oppositely arranged. The flowers are inside ball like clusters, 2-4 in, circling the stem. “The tubular flowers that peek out of the spiny heads are orange and furry, like a lion’s ear, so they say.” (1) Native to subtropical Africa, Leonotis does very well in our Central Florida climate*. It has a sister, Leonotis leonurus, that looks very similar and is also heavily planted in Central Florida gardens. L. leonurus has much fuller…
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Scorpion Tail
Latin name: Heliotropium angiospermum, Heliotropiaceae Common names: Scorpion-Tail, Heliotrope Growth: About 2 feet in height, native to the Central East Coast of Florida, and South Florida, as well as the Caribbean and Central America. In Central Florida Scorpion-Tail is a nice herbaceous garden plant, rarely becoming weedy. The scorpion most likely to be found with Heliotropium angiospermum is Centruroides gracilis. Preparation: Cuba: Dried powder of leaves poured over a moistened burn; Dominican Republic & Haiti: decoction of leaves on sores and cleaning baby’s skin at birth. In the Bahamas and Virgin Islands this plant is sometimes referred to as Eyebright, or Bright-Eye Bush, lending some information to its historical medicinal uses.…
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Yarrow
Achillea millefolium Latin name: Achillea millefolium Family: Asteraceae Common names: Yarrow, Milfoil Growth: In Central Florida can be used as a ground cover, the bipinnate leaves grow low to the ground and appear almost fern like, differing from their growth habit in almost every other location. The composite flowers are showy and require partial to full sun, which shortens the life of the shade loving leaves. The white variety is the only one we use for medicine; you’ll find lovely pink, yellow, orange, and all other colors available at garden centers. Preparation: tea, tincture, potherb, spice, infused oil, salve. Historically used as a leaf vegetable, the young leaves are said…
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Feverfew
Latin name: Tanacetum parthenium Family: Asteraceae Common names: feverfew Feverfew has a long history in traditional and folk medicine especially used by the Greeks and Europeans. Nicolas Culpepper is the most famous of herbalist that worked with and documented Feverfew. He says that “Venus commands this herb, and has commended it to succour her sisters (women), to be a general strengthener of their wombs…” Feverfew has a long history of supporting women and their reproductive systems. For an advanced and thorough review, head on over to the US National Library of Medicine to read a systematic review. If you’re like me and are curious of magickal ways to practice with feverfew, check…
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Mullein
Latin Name: Verbascum thapsus Family: Scrophulariaceae I still laugh out loud thinking about the Leaves and Roots customer back in the 90s who legally changed her name to “Verbascum” after a long love affair with the plant ally Mullein. We all lovingly called her Verbie for short, and really, who could blame her? This roadside “weed” is abundant in temperate climates and brings such profound medicine with a gentle strength, no wonder she adopted its moniker as her own in homage. . Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a prolific plant of European origin that grows abundantly in disturbed soils, roadsides, and meadows throughout most of the temperate United States. This biennial plant is…
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Rebirth of the Bodhi Garden
In 2020, The Florida School of Holistic Living home base relocated to Altamonte Springs, FL. We are no longer stewards of the Bodhi Tree Garden, but the history of our time in the garden remains alive on this page. On the very day of its planting ten years before, our beloved Bodhi tree gracefully yielded to Hurricane Irma’s easterly winds. It was as if the tree knew the storm may break it, and laid itself gently to nap through the worst of it. We felt a twinge of shock to see its uprooted end exposed, but quickly saw the humbling gifts it gave us: the tree fell beautifully intact in…
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