Many cultures have always held a wide view of plants. Herbs were not divided into compartments as they are in many Western minds today. To the Chinese, for example, the chrysanthemum is useful, beautiful and virtuous. Chrysanthemums were first grown for their medicinal properties and were a valued ingredient of the Taoist elixir. They were also believed to be full of magic juices and perhaps that reason contributed to their beauty.

EARLY WRITINGS

Early plant knowledge was passed on verbally. As both the body of knowledge and populations grew it, became more important to record accurately the accumulated information on herbs for safe identification and dosage. Many of the earliest writings are about herbs that were important in ceremony, magic and medicine. Babylonian clay tablets from 3000 BC illustrate medical treatments and later they record herbal imports.

During the next 1,000 years, parallel cultures in China, Assyria, Egypt and India developed a written record of mainly medicinal herbs. Early Western records of herbs describe a mixture of medicinal and magical usage of plants; and Egyptian writings dating from 1550 BC contain medical prescriptions and notes on the aromatic and cosmetic use of herbs.

HERBS AND COOKERY

The use of herbs in cooking features as far back as the first century cook book written by the Roman epicure, Apicius, which shows fascinating and adventurous combinations of herb flavours. Some of these are echoed in modern recipes for soups and salads, fish and meat dishes, and desserts and drinks.

For centuries, herbs were a staple of daily life. In England in 1699 John Evelyn wrote Acetaria: A discourse of Sallets, which listed 73 salad herbs, giving details of the part of each herb used and how it was best prepared. This broad usage continued for centuries, and even 200 years ago, the word vegetable was not commonly used - we spoke of pot herbs (for bulk in the cooking pot), salet (salad) herbs, sweet herbs (flavourings) and simples (medicinal herbs from which "compounds" were made).

HERBS AS GARDEN PLANTS

As communities became more secure and gardening developed for pleasure, books included the aesthetic appeal of herbs as garden plants.

In his essay Of Gardens, Francis Bacon includes many herbs in his sketch of an ideal garden. His famous opening is often quoted: "God Almighty first planted a garden. An indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man." He advocates alleys of scented herbs "to have the pleasure when you walk or tread."

THE AGE OF HERBALS

Herbals, books that provided plant descriptions and details of their medical uses, became increasingly popular in the sixteenth century. At that time, three famous herbals were printed in Germany one of which, Leonhart Fuch's De Historia Stirpium of 1542, has charming naturalistic illustrations of herbs drawn from direct observation rather than copied from old woodcuts as in previous herbals. His text, however, was based mostly on the writings of Dioscorides who wrote De Materia Medica in 512 AD.

In such books, many scholars made a valiant attempt to eliminate unscientific attitudes, but the common people - including the best known English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper - held deep beliefs about the significance of plants: plants were deemed to serve humanity, each with a purpose for our benefit.

Up to the seventeenth century, herbals had contained botany and medicine but as science emerged, plants were classified, dissected and demystified and botany and medicine went their separate ways.

In 1931, an Englishwoman, Mrs M Grieve, decided to change this situation and wrote A Modern Herbal which drew together both scientific and traditional information.

HERBS FOR BEAUTY

The cosmetic use of plant material runs through all ancient cultures. The Egyptians incorporated beauty preparations in their religious and ceremonial rituals while the ancient Greeks developed a philosophy of all-round health and beauty akin to modern concepts. The Romans indulged further in aromatic rituals and body pampering. Citro, a Roman writer in the first century AD, produced four books on cosmetics with a comprehensive range of recipes for hair care, avoiding wrinkles and dealing with body odours. By the time of the Renaissance there was an awareness of skin care as separate from medicinal disorders. Recipes for soaps, creams and herbal waters were collected and recorded in herbals, which were handed down from mother to daughter for generations.

HERBS FOR HEALTH

Throughout the world early tribes accumulated a useful body of herbal knowledge through a process of trial and error. Women, with the restricted mobility of the child-bearer, assumed the tasks of collecting and administering herbs, so that medicine was almost universally a female vocation in pre-scientific cultures. Early peoples also saw a link between health renewal and a woman's ability to create new life. The healing craft and plant knowledge were handed down from mother to daughter, and the efficiency of this system depended on both the accuracy of their observations and the nurturing qualities of the healer involved. To help their memories, nomadic tribes would select a visual attribute of each herb to remind them of its usage.

Difficulties in describing and remembering plants lessened with the advent of written language and, by 3000 BC, parallel cultures in China, Babylon, Egypt and India had begun to record their knowledge of medicinal plants.

CHINESE HERBALISM

The country with the longest unbroken tradition in herbal medicine is China. By the time he died in 2698 BC, the legendary Emperor Shen Nung had "tasted one hundred herbs". His Canon of Herbs deals with 252 plants, describing how to preserve and administer them, and many are still in use.

A hundred years later the Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti, formalized medical theory in the Nei Ching and displayed a sophisticated understanding of human disease for the time: "In treating illness, it is necessary to examine the entire context, scrutinize the symptoms, observe the emotions and attitudes. If one insists on the presence of ghosts and spirits, one cannot speak of therapeutics." It was an optimistic book, stating that, with the growth of knowledge, all kinds of disease would eventually be curable.

The Nei Ching was frequently updated and in the seventh century, more than 800 years before the Western press was invented, the government of the Tang dynasty printed and distributed a Revised Canon of Herbs throughout China. In 1578 Li Sizhen completed a world-famous Compendium of Materia Medica, which listed 1,800 healing substances and 11,000 recipes or compounds.

FROM THE FAR EAST TO THE MIDDLE EAST

Clay tablets from 3000 BC record herbal imports into Babylon, and there is evidence of trade in ginseng between China and Babylon around 2000 BC. The Babylonians had an enormous pharmacopoeia with 1,400 plants; they used poppy as an anaesthetic and fennel as a digestive. The Greek historian Herodotus noted that every Babylonian was an amateur physician, since it was the custom to lay the sick in the street and solicit advice from anyone passing by.

The first known Egyptian physician was Imhotep (2980 - 2900 BC), a priest healer who also designed one of the earliest pyramids. He was greatly respected as a skilled healer and was eventually deified.

The Ebers papyri of 1550 BC list many herbal remedies and accompanying incantations, and around this time a form of astrology was incorporated into Egyptian medicine. Egyptian physicians worked with around 900 herbs, and, through their embalming skills, had a superior understanding of the human organism.

At about the same time, Indian physicians were developing advanced surgical and diagnostic skills and used hundreds of herbs in their treatments. Like the Chinese, they used all five senses when diagnosing, and developed a keen sensitivity to assessing breathing, pulse rate and skin odours.

HERBALISM IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

The Ancient Greeks acquired their knowledge of herbalism from India, Babylon, Egypt and even China. In the thirteenth century BC there lived in Greece a healer named Asclepius, skilled in the use of herbs. He designed a healing system, whereby people would live through a series of experiences intending to transform them by changing old thinking patterns. Many miracles of healing were attributed to Asclepius and his daughter Hygieia. Eventually he was deified and healing temples sprang up across Greece. His system was practised in Greece for several hundred years, and some of his ideas are still relevant in today's health centres.

In the sixth century BC, the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras set up a university to teach advanced knowledge. Herbs, particularly aromatic gardens, played an important part in the healing and restorative regime, which preceded higher learning.

Hippocrates (460 - 377 BC) brought Western medicine into a scientific framework of diagnosis and treatment. He dismissed the idea of disease being punishment from the gods and considered food, occupation and climate important factors in disease. He believed that it was the individual's responsibility to aid self-healing through diet and plant medicines. He gave the medical profession a code of conduct that is still respected by doctors throughout the modern world.

THE DARK AGES

During the Dark Ages, Persia became the centre of excellence. There the Nestorian Christians (an Eastern Church not affiliated with Rome) established a famous school and hospital where Greek medical manuscripts were translated into Arabic.

In contemporary Europe, medical progress was hampered by the authorities of the Christian church: scientific learning was not highly regarded, experiment was discouraged and originality considered a dangerous asset. Most significantly, the Church viewed disease as punishment for sin. However, plant medicine continued to be practised by monks in the monasteries and by "herb women" in the remote villages.

THE RENAISSANCE

With the development in the fifteenth century of the Western printing press, began a golden age of herbals. This was the beginning of the Renaissance, a time for re-examining old ideas, attempting to escape the limitations of old dogmas and giving rein to an eagerness for discovery. A new scientific attitude spread through medicine. The results of herbal remedies were observed more accurately, and the more bizarre drugs were dropped. Rather oddly, in this environment of growing reason, there occurred the cruellest witch-hunts in history. Women were forbidden to study, while non-professional healers were pronounced heretics. Because of this, even today, some people equate herbalism with superstition, quackery and magic.

HERBALISM TODAY

With the ascendancy of science in the nineteenth century came the ability to synthesize plant parts and concentrate doses. Herb usage probably reached an all-time low in the mid-twentieth century. But now, because of a greater concern about the side-effects of drugs, an understanding of ecology and people's desire to take greater responsibility for their own health, herbal medicine is experiencing a remarkable revival.

THE LURE OF HERBS TODAY

Recently, there has been a tremendous surge of interest in herbs. Research on a medicinal and cosmetic uses and new ideas for decorative and scented applications are continually adding to the large body of herbal knowledge and skills.