HERBS WHAT? 1-13-18

'''HERBS WHAT? 1-13-18'''.

By now you have probably noticed a wide discrepancy about what an HERB is.

ORIGINALLY an Herb was the green stalks, leaves, flowers and seeds of annual green growing plants. This influence probably came from Sacred Texts. Both Hebrew Scrolls and the Christian Bible describes Herbs this way in the first book right after the story of creation. The Jews didn't invent this, they were scattered for years and much of their knowledge came from ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Chaldea and Persia. Do you know that Father Abraham was not a Jew? He was Chaldean from the ancient city of UR and both Arabs and Jews consider him to be their Patriarch

Wikipedia uses this definition:

In general use, herbs are plants with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring food, in medicine, or as fragrances. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices. Herbs refer to the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant (either fresh or dried), while spices are usually dried and produced from other parts of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, roots and fruits.

Older Traditional Herbals would not include Onions or Garlic as Herbs while modern Herbals do. Turmeric and Ginger are not in some older herbals but appear in newer ones.

TODAY Herbalism has expanded into "Botanical Medicine" and includes Roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds, nuts, bark, fruit and tree gums. Myrrh (the hardened gum of a Mediterranean bush) is included in many newer Herbals.

In making the lists of herbs for the course, I found several which are not listed in 'The Modern Herbal' on-line, because M. Grieve considered them vegetables and not Herbs.

TODAY we have a class of medicine called 'Phyto-Pharmacology' and anything derived from plants and trees and even aquatic plants is considered 'fair game'; So if it is a plant 'feel free' to call it an HERB.

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