Beautiful and Wicked – Opium poppies have long cultural associations with sleep and death.
Botany’s Poets Laureate – Nahum Tate treats us to poetic vauntings of drugs and stimulants….
Civil Oranges – From Shakespeare to Syphilis, the same lessons are re-learnt.
Joyfull Newes – The English translation of Monardes’ Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, extols the virtues of tobacco and other significant New World plants.
Powerful Periwinkles – The Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) shows the hidden values in simple plants.
RIP – Contemporary science discovers hidden traits of historical herbs, new tricks for the old dog Soapwort
Six Books on Plants, People, Poetry, and Politics – Abraham Cowley left a big trail for others to follow.
Withering Heights – Look into the story of William Withering, Foxglove, and digitalin.