Elixers Of Life

by Leyel, C. F.

• ISBN13: 9780710307422
• ISBN10: 071030742X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor and Fran

Summary

The desire to prolong life and improve its quality is as old as life itself, and many non-western cultures -- paricularly native Americans and the peoples of Asia and India -- have never lost their knowledge of and belief in the efficacy of herbs in achieving this aim. Many herbs are believed to rejuvenate the body and repair tissue waste; others are thought to provide essential nutritive supplements, to have aphrodesiac properties or to have a tonic effect which aids digestion. In this definitive volume, long out of print, Hilda Leyel explores the global history and use of 171 revitalizing herbs and vegetables -- from Agar-Agar to Yellow Wort -- grouped into three categories: nutritious herbs, bitter herbs, and tonic herbs. The book provides such information as botanical name, common name, names given to the plant in different cultures and times, natural habitat, part used, method of use, symbolism, specific action of the plant, and lore and history. The unique feature of the work is the inclusion of oriental herb lore and herbal wisdom from ancient sources, including Rome and Egypt. Food and medicine being identical in herbal wisdom, the recommendations for making herbal infusions are given, along with some simple recipes. Full of scholarly detail yet written for the layman, this work is both practical and inspirational, the best of its kind ever written, and includes thirteen specialist indexes. It should be read as a companion volume to The Craft of the Herbalist by E. A. Wallis Budge, to whom it is dedicated.

Author Biography

Hilda Leyel is a Fellow of the Royal Institute and an officier of l'Academie Francaise.

Table of Contents

Introduction	13	(4)
Nutritious Herbs	17	(96)
Agar-Agar
Almond
Apricot
Artichoke
Arrow-root
Bamboo
Banana
Barley
Beans
Birds' nests
Bombax
Bread-fruit Tree
Broom Corn
Burra Gookeroo
Canadian Bitter Root
Candle nut tree
Canterbury Bells
Cassava
Ceropegia
Chocolate Tree
Convolvulus
Coreopsis
Cotton-root
Cowhage
Cow-wheat
Crown-Imperial
Cyclamen
Dahlia
Damiana
Dendrobium
Durian-tree
Eryngo
Euryale Ferox
False Acacia or Locust Tree
Fenugreek
Fritillary
Ginseng
Gobernadora
Gold of Pleasure
Hazel
Hungry grass
Honesty
Hydrocotyle
Hygrophilia, Ice Plant
Kava Kava
Lady's Slipper
Lily of Kamschatka
Lotus
Love-lies-bleeding
Lucerne
Maize
Manna ash
Maple
Mastic
Michaelmas Daisies
Mushrooms
Musk seed
Olive
Orchid
Palms
Potato
Rice
Rocket
Sago (see Palms)
Service berry
Spurrey
Star of Bethlehem
Sugar Cane
Sunflower
Sweet Chestnut
Sweet William
Teluga Potato
Tulip
Vanilla
Vegetable Marrows
Vine
Walnut
Wheat
Bitter Herbs	113	(25)
Angostura
Balmony
Barberry
Bayberry
Bogbean
Boldo
Calumba
Camomile
Centaury
Chiretta
Dandelion
Fringe tree
Gentian
Gold Thread
Liverwort
Oak
Quassia
Rauwolfia
Simaruba
Tulip Tree
Wormwood
Yellow-Wort
Tonic Herbs	138
Acacia
Anemone
Box
Burr-Marigold
Celery
Cherry
Clerodendron
Combretum
Dodder
Everlasting flower
Heather
Herbpatience
Hollyhock
Hornbeam
Horsetail
Hydrangea
Jacob's Ladder
Jasmine
Labrador Tea
Lady's Tresses
Love-in-a-mist
Lupins
Magnolia
Maidenhair
Mango
Marjoram
Marshwort
Masterwort
Papaw
Peach
Platycodon
Poplar
Pothos
Rhubarb
Rose
Rose of Jericho
Rue
Saff-Flower
St. John's wort
Scurvy Grass
Spindle
Squaw vine
Sweet Cicely
Sweet Sultan
Tansy
Teasels
Thistles
Wafer Ash
Wallflower
Wild Cinchona
Willows
Yellow Parilla