Herbs Overview

What is an Herb?
An herb is a plant with a fleshy stem. Webster's Diictionary also describes an herb as a plant that typically dies back to the ground each year. An herb also usually has some type of value as a food or medicine. It simply that herbs are mainly just wild vegetables.

Although each part of the definifion is true, the herb category is much broader than fust a fleshy plant that dies back to the ground each year. Many plant products that are parts of trees, vines, or bushes also ale called herbs even though they don't fit the technical definifion. For example, herbalists consider bee pollen (the pollen collected by bees from flowers) and other plant substances with a nutritional or medicinal value to be herbs as well.

As a general rule, plants and plant parts considered in the herbal category include:

. Bark from trees and vines (Cinamon, cascara sagrada)
. Fruit or berries (elderberry, bilberry)
. Nuts and seeds and their shells, husks, or hulls (flax seeds, black walnut hulls)
. Pollen, such as flower pollen collected by bees (bee pollen)
. Plant oil or resin (such as tea tree oil or myrrh gum),br> . Plant "blood" (chlorophyll)
. Plankton (such as algae)
. Fungus (Reishi mushroom)

Bottom line: An herb is a plant witth a fleshy stem that usually has some type of medicinal value and can also be used as a food or as a spice. Think of herbs as wild vegetables

Henbalists also consider some foods that you might have considered vegetables to be herbs. For instance, that garlic in your refrigerator has also been used medidnally to thin the blood and help lower cholesterol. Remember the old saying, "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food"? Herbs are really concentrated food sources.
Some people consider herbs weeds, such as the misunderstood dandelion. The term weed is given to plants that grow in places where we don't want them to grow. It is a prejudiced word for a plant (sometimes an herb) that is considered undesirable, unatttactive or troublesome, which is also fitting for the dandelion in many cases.

Herbs contain naturally occurring chemical properties such as bitters, aromatics, tannins, flavonoids, and much more, which all have an effect on our body. Since herbs are foods, the body recognizes these chemicals and utilizes their nourishment in ways natural for the body. Herbs are being researched and scientifically validated for their health-building value.

Bottom Line: a weed is plant thought of as undesirable, unattractive, and usually growing where it is not wanted. Some people consider certain herbs weeds. Once you find out the value of a "weed" though, you will usually refer to the plant as an herb.

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