The plants you see before you are not just lovely to look at. Their flowers, their leaves, the lining of their bark conceal great treasures. They are the medicinal herbs: plants that contain active principles that man has been able to extract and use for medicinal, cosmetic and culinary purposes, as well as to make distillates.
From Wolfsbane, for example, we extract aconite, a natural toxin that is used in controlled dosages in traditional Chinese medicine, as a cough suppressor and decongestant.
See those yellow flowers that look like daisies? They are the flowers of Arnica montana: that’s where its active principles are, with anti- inflammatory, antibacterial, and analgesic properties, as well as stimulating the circulation. Careful though: the oil extracted from the flowers is for external use only, otherwise it is toxic.
