Last night we welcomed back one of our most popular speakers, Susan Scrivens. Susan has been to the club before and gave us a very amusing account of the ‘Rise and Fall of a Beekeeper’. Yesterday evening it was ‘Herbs for Every Use’. Despite having been quite ill with the lurgy leading up to yesterday evening, (Susan explained that she and husband John had both been ill together, but he knew she was bad when she turned down a glass of wine!), Susan gave another very amusing talk about herbs. Since this will appear on the Internet, we won’t spoil her talk for others, but suffice to say there are some very amusing anecdotes along the way!
Susan very kindly gave us a list of the herbs she spoke about and, since it won’t spoil anything, we will list them here:
Medicinal, (although she did rightly warn not to use without consulting a doctor)
- St John’s Wort – hypericum perforatum
- Lungwort – pulmonaria
- Plantain
- Alchemilla mollis
- Ajuga – bugle
- Tansy – tanacetum vulgare
- Evening primrose – oenothera biennis
- Feverfew – tanacetum parthenium (single and double)
Culinary
- Mint
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Sage
- Chives
- Hyssop
- Fennel
- Oregano
- Basil
- Sweet Cecily
- Lemon Balm
- Lovage
- Angelica
Dyers’ Herbs – plants used traditionally to dye yarn and fabric
- Anthemis tinctoria – yellow shades
- Rubia tinctoria – Madder – red shades
- Isatis tinctoria – Woad – shaes of blue
A tip is to look for the clue in the name … “tinctoria”.
Other Herbs – A few interesting ways in which plants are used
- Soapword – saponaria officinalis – natural soap
- Wormwood – artemesia absinthium – used in absinthe
- Alecost – chrysanthemum balsamita – ale flavouring or insect repellent
- Borage – borago officinalis – good in Pimms!
- Aloe Vera – treating burns, soothing for skin
- Tussie-Mussie – little floral posy with a hidden message
- Bay – make a mini bay ‘tree’ for the kitchen
It was another great evening with Susan and her husband and we very much look forward to her next visit and another great talk!