Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients , with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices . Herbs generally refers 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 , bark , roots and fruits .
32-496: Pelomedusinae Cope, 1868 Pelomedusidae is a family of freshwater turtles endemic to sub-Saharan Africa , including Madagascar, São Tomé, and the Seychelles (although this population may have been introduced by humans). They range in size from 12 to 45 cm (4.7 to 17.7 in) in carapace length, and are generally roundish in shape. They are unable to fully withdraw their heads into their shells, instead drawing them to
64-420: A holy plant. Siberian shamans also used herbs for spiritual purposes. Plants may be used to induce spiritual experiences for rites of passage, such as vision quests in some Native American cultures. The Cherokee use both white sage and cedar for spiritual cleansing and smudging . Originally there was always doubt in ancient societies, especially in the sceptical medium of western traditions, as to
96-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
128-571: A reputation as a therapeutic food by the 14th century. One of the most common sauces of the age, green sauce , was made with parsley and often sage as well. In a 14th-century recipe recorded in Latin "for lords, for settling their temperament and whetting their appetite" green sauce is served with a dish of cheese and whole egg yolks boiled in watered down wine with herbs and spices. Perennial herbs are usually reproduced by stem cuttings, either softwood cuttings of immature growth, or hardwood cuttings where
160-506: A serious nature, and should be used with caution. Complications can also arise when being taken with some prescription medicines. Herbs have long been used as the basis of traditional Chinese herbal medicine , with usage dating as far back as the first century CE and far before. In India, the Ayurveda medicinal system is based on herbs. Medicinal use of herbs in Western cultures has its roots in
192-444: A source of relaxation or can be associated with rituals. Herbs were used in prehistoric medicine . As far back as 5000 BCE, evidence that Sumerians used herbs in medicine was inscribed on cuneiform. In 162 CE, the physician Galen was known for concocting complicated herbal remedies that contained up to 100 ingredients. Some plants contain phytochemicals that have effects on the body. There may be some effects when consumed in
224-545: A woody stem in which all aerial parts (i.e. above ground) die back to the ground at the end of each growing season . Usually the term refers to perennials , although herbaceous plants can also be annuals (plants that die at the end of the growing season and grow back from seed next year), or biennials . This term is in contrast to shrubs and trees which possess a woody stem. Shrubs and trees are also defined in terms of size, where shrubs are less than ten meters tall, and trees may grow over ten meters. The word herbaceous
256-470: Is a record dated 1226 for '12d for Roses for Baron's Chamber and in 1516 for flowers and rushes for chambers for henry the 9th Certain herbs contain psychoactive properties that have been used for both religious and recreational purposes by humans since the early Holocene era, notably the leaves and extracts of the cannabis and coca plants. The leaves of the coca plant have been chewed by people in northern Peruvian societies for over 8,000 years, while
288-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
320-426: Is derived from Latin herbāceus meaning "grassy", from herba "grass, herb". Another sense of the term herb can refer to a much larger range of plants, with culinary, therapeutic or other uses. For example, some of the most commonly described herbs such as sage , rosemary and lavender would be excluded from the botanical definition of an herb as they do not die down each year, and they possess woody stems. In
352-480: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family
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#1732858797745384-529: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Herb Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, aromatic and in some cases, spiritual. General usage of
416-677: The Hippocratic (Greek) elemental healing system, based on a quaternary elemental healing metaphor. Famous herbalist of the Western tradition include Avicenna (Persian), Galen (Roman), Paracelsus (German Swiss), Culpepper (English) and the botanically inclined Eclectic physicians of 19th century/early 20th century America ( John Milton Scudder , Harvey Wickes Felter , John Uri Lloyd ). Modern pharmaceuticals had their origins in crude herbal medicines, and to this day, some drugs are still extracted as fractionate/isolate compounds from raw herbs and then purified to meet pharmaceutical standards. There
448-504: The mint family , that are used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. Emperor Charlemagne (742–814) compiled a list of 74 different herbs that were to be planted in his gardens. The connection between herbs and health is important already in the European Middle Ages-- The Forme of Cury (that is, "cookery") promotes extensive use of herbs, including in salads, and claims in its preface "the assent and advisement of
480-1046: The bark has been scraped to expose the cambium layer. A cutting will usually be approximately 3 to 4 inches in length. Plant roots can grow from the stems. Leaves are stripped from the lower portion up to one half before the cutting is placed in growth medium or rooted in a glass of water. This process requires high humidity in the environment, sufficient light, and root zone heat. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that, like spices, they are used in small amounts and provide flavor rather than substance to food . Herbs can be perennials such as thyme , oregano , sage or lavender , biennials such as parsley , or annuals like basil . Perennial herbs can be shrubs such as rosemary ( Rosmarinus officinalis ), or trees such as bay laurel ( Laurus nobilis ) – this contrasts with botanical herbs , which by definition cannot be woody plants. Some plants are used as both herbs and spices, such as dill weed and dill seed or coriander leaves and seeds. There are also some herbs, such as those in
512-581: The dry season, burying themselves in the mud. Within Pleurodira , Pelomedusidae is more closely related to the South American and Malagasy Podocnemididae than to the South American and Australian Chelidae , with the clade containing both Pelomedusidae and Podocnemididae to the exclusion of Chelidae dubbed Pelomedusoides . Within Pelomedusidae are 2 genera and 27 extant species. Pelusios seychellensis
544-549: The efficacity of herbal medicines. The use of herbal cosmetics dates back to around six centuries ago in the European and Western countries. Mixtures and pastes were often concocted to whiten the face. During the 1940s, herbal cosmetics took a turn with the emerging red lipstick color, with every year gaining a more intense red. Herbal cosmetics come in many forms, such as face creams, scrubs, lipstick, natural fragrances, powders, body oils, deodorants and sunscreens. They activate through
576-474: The epithelium of sebaceous glands to make the skin more supple. Ayurvedic oils are widely used in India, prized for their natural health-giving properties. One method and perhaps the best, used to extract natural oils from herbs to make lipstick is partition chromatography . The process involves separation in watery solution, and then the injection of colour under pressure. Strewing herbs are scattered (strewn) over
608-530: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
640-499: The masters of physic and philosophy in the King's Court". Some herbs can be infused in boiling water to make herbal teas (also termed tisanes). Typically the dried leaves, flowers or seeds are used, or fresh herbs are used. Herbal teas tend to be made from aromatic herbs, may not contain tannins or caffeine , and are not typically mixed with milk. Common examples include chamomile tea , or mint tea . Herbal teas are often used as
672-768: The monastic era, monks would cultivate herbs alongside vegetables, while others would be set aside in a physic garden for specific purposes. For example, myrrh ( Commiphora myrrha ) and frankincense ( Boswellia species) in Hellenistic religion , the nine herbs charm in Anglo-Saxon paganism , neem ( Azadirachta indica ) leaves, bael ( Aegele marmelos ) leaves, holy basil or tulsi ( Ocimum tenuiflorum ), turmeric or "haldi" ( Curcuma longa ), cannabis in Hinduism , and white sage in Wicca . Rastafari also consider cannabis to be
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#1732858797745704-423: The noun "herb" refers to a "plant that does not produce a woody stem", and the adjective "herbaceous" means "herb-like", referring to parts of the plant that are green and soft in texture". "What is a herb?" "The friend of physicians and the praise of cooks." -- Alcuin and his student Charlemagne In botany , the term herb refers to a herbaceous plant , defined as a small, seed-bearing plant without
736-407: The plant world into trees, shrubs, and herbs. Herbs came to be considered in three groups, namely pot herbs (e.g. onions), sweet herbs (e.g. thyme), and salad herbs (e.g. wild celery). During the seventeenth century as selective breeding changed the plants size and flavor away from the wild plant, pot herbs began to be referred to as vegetables as they were no longer considered only suitable for
768-471: The pot. Botany and the study of herbs was, in its infancy, primarily a study of the pharmacological uses of plants. During the Middle Ages, when humoral theory guided medicine, it was posited that foodstuffs, possessing their own humoral qualities, could alter the humoral temperaments of people. Parsley and sage were often used together in medieval cookery, for example in chicken broth , which had developed
800-567: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
832-487: The side and folding them beneath the upper edge of their shells, hence are called African side-necked turtles . The family contains two living genera , Pelomedusa and Pelusios . They are distinguished from their closest relatives by a hinge in the front section of the plastron . Pelomedusids spends most of their time in the mud at the bottom of rivers or shallow lakes, where they eat invertebrates, such as insects, mollusks, and worms. Many species aestivate through
864-413: The small levels that typify culinary "spicing", and some herbs are toxic in larger quantities. For instance, some types of herbal extract, such as the extract of St. John's-wort ( Hypericum perforatum ) or of kava ( Piper methysticum ) can be used for medical purposes to relieve depression and stress. However, large amounts of these herbs may lead to toxic overload that may involve complications, some of
896-589: The term "herb" differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs ; in medicinal or spiritual use, any parts of the plant might be considered "herbs", including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark (and cambium ), resin and pericarp . The word "herb" is pronounced / h ɜːr b / in Commonwealth English , but / ɜːr b / is standard among American English speakers as well as those from regions where h-dropping occurs. In Canadian English , both pronunciations are common. In botany,
928-590: The use of cannabis as a psychoactive substance dates back to the first century CE in China and northern Africa . Indigenous Australian peoples developed " bush medicine " based on plants that were readily available to them. The isolation of these groups meant the remedies developed were for far less serious diseases than the western illnesses they contracted during colonisation. Herbs such as river mint , wattle and eucalyptus were used for coughs, diarrhea, fever and headaches. Herbs are used in many religions . During
960-541: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
992-508: The wider sense, herbs may be herbaceous perennials but also trees, subshrubs, shrubs, annuals, lianas , ferns , mosses , algae , lichens , and fungi . Herbalism can utilize not just stems and leaves but also fruit, roots, bark and gums. Therefore, one suggested definition of an herb is a plant which is of use to humans, although this definition is problematic since it could cover a great many plants that are not commonly described as herbs. Ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus divided
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1024-477: Was originally described as an endemic species to the Seychelles based on Museum specimens from the 19th century. However, this species was never found again and thus listed as Extinct by the IUCN. However, mitochondrial evidence proved the specimens to actually be from P. castaneus thus revoking the species status of P. seychellensis . Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )
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