The History of Domestic Plant Medicine

The debt medicine owes to botany is not commonly appreciated. In the past, medicine relied almost entirely on plants, and even today, many western medicines are plant derived. Despite this, historians have largely neglected the study of domestic medicine, practised by the ordinary person and passed down through generations, in favour of ‘official medicine’.

The History of Domestic Plant Medicine brings together manuscripts, letters, diaries, personal oral interviews and other primary evidence to produce a detailed picture of the medicinal use of native plants in Britain from 1700 to the present day. Recording for posterity this neglected aspect of our heritage, it is a valuable contribution to the study of the folklore of modern Britain and a fascinating piece of social history.

Why we love it

This book seeks to record the history of Plant Medicine in Britain. The oral history of the common folk finally written down and appreciated. This book is an excellent merge of interviews, diary entries and notes compared with the some of the science behind some of these ancient recipes and cures. The author approaches communities with care and without any air of superiority or classism. The focus of the book is on domestic plant medicine. Cultural folk medicine. The medicine of every day homes- not necessarily the magical plant healing of the Wise Folk.

It should be noted that the author takes a very old-fashioned view of witchcraft in that they talk on the “herbal healer called witch” theory that is now widely disproven as a main cause of witchcraft accusations. The author themselves note that their middle class demeanour may have been off putting to the people, and so wouldn’t have been able to collect as much information-Something we have noticed with some of the gaps in the tales told that we’ve noticed simply from being from a living tradition. However, the collection of herbal information in this tome is not to be missed- there’s a lot of tales in here not often told.

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