This guide exists to explain the appearance, general known uses, and the locations the herb[s] are typically found. By using this information the readers can learn to better play out a Alchemist/Botanist.

Is a very versatile cosmopoliton herb often used for nutritional or dye purposes.

• Good source of vitamins C, K, B6, A, Riboflavin, and Flovate.

• Can create a deep red dye known as ‘Hopi Red Dye’

• Boil leaves to create soups or after boiling wrap it around sushi; supposedly helps red blood cell count.

Appearance: Inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold, the plant is similar to a small bush or shrub and also may produce small fruits that can be safely ingested. [DA ones have no fruit at this time.]

Has a flavor that resembles licorice that is sweet and it is very aromatic.

• And in medical is used to treat colds and flus through aroma therapy; when chewed with alexanders it supposedly will cure sleeplessness, and when mixed with wine it creates a cure for scorpion stings.

• Can pour boiling water over a tablespoon of Aniseed to make hot tea.

• Anethole can eventually be converted into dimethoxybenzaldehyde which is used in psychadelic drugs.

• Can be used to flavor liquors.

• Mild antiparasitic and its leaves can be used to treat digestive problems, relieve toothache, and its essential oil to treat lice and scabies.

• Anise can be used to relieve menstrual cramps.

Appearance - Growing to 3 ft (1 m) tall. The leaves at the base of the plant are simple, 0.5 in - 2 in (2 - 5 cm) long and shallowly lobed, while leaves higher on the stems are feathery pinnate, divided into numerous leafs. The flowers are white, approximately 3 mm diameter, produced in dense umbels. The fruit is an oblong dry schizocarp, 3 - 5 mm long. It is these seedpods that are referred to as “aniseed”.

A curious herb, used in combating aging related diseases and for decoration, in reality the genus has a huge variety of shrubs and herbs within it, however; Dark Ages only shows the gathered part of the Astragalus to be a yellowish root.

• Astragalus membranaceus can be purified for the particular natural telomerase activating extracts which can act as a telomere enhancer as well as life prolonging extracts.

• Can be grown as a ornamental plant in gardens.

Appearance: As it can be seen Amaranth is traditionally a small shrub sized herb that can grow rather attractive flowers on it, but oddly enough it’s truthful number of usages tend to be very small.

Used to make the olympic wreath in ancient greece and is also thought to aid in pursuing immortality by the chinese; the aromatic laurel is used in flavored stews, soups, and fish.

• Antioxidant, The highest concentration of this is in the bark. (70.6%)

• Anti-Inflammatory, Helps reduce inflammation of locations.

• Anti-Convulsant, Suppresses Convulsions.

Appearance - Is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub reaching 10–18 m tall, native to the Mediterranean region. The leaves are 6–12 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with a characteristic finely serrated and wrinkled margin. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants; each flower is pale yellow-green, about 1 cm diameter, borne in pairs together beside a leaf. The fruit is a small black berry about 1 cm long, containing a single seed.

The oils are extracted a bit from the fruits and namely from the leaves.

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Lemon Scents are made when crushed and used to make flavorful teas similar to lemonade but with medicinal value.

Positive Effects

• Stomach aches, Nausea, Parasites, and other digestive disorders.

• Fevers and Head Aches.

• Vasodilator properties; Minor yet it acts as a relaxer.

• Cholagogic Properties; Helps to flush bile/impurities out from the body.

• Carminative Properties; prevents formation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract. [Prevents farting]

• Antispasmodic properties; Moderate, but acts as a spasm supressor. The effect is to prevent spasms of the stomach, intestine or urinary bladder.

• Antiseptic; prepared properly would act as a disinfectant for abrasions and other outer body damages.

• Analgesic; Suppresses pain. [It’s a mild pain killer prepared properly.]

Negative Effects

• Not good for ingestion by pregnant women as it can cause a miscarriage.

• Diaphoretic Properties; It is minor in Bergamot but it can cause increased perspiration.

Appearance - The whole plant is smooth, dotted with yellow glands and is of a dark green colour, generally tinged with purple, especially the margins of the leaves, which are finely toothed. It is typically harvested for the leaves and flowers to use in formula’s and substances.

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Very small amounts [0.2%] of this herb are used in drugs or teas to promote lactation and is also used in alcohol formulas for treating digestive tract problems;

Appearance - Growing up to 60 cm tall, with leathery, hairy leaves up to 30 cm long and 8 cm broad, with small spines on the margins. The flowers are yellow, produced in a dense flowerhead (capitulum) 3-4 cm diameter, surrounded by numerous spiny basal bracts.

Side notes: Blessed Thistle is unlike some thistles; inedible, the leaves are considered unpalatable and bitter. The product from Blessed Thistle is cnicin which is gathered from the leaves; cnicin is then esterfied to become a chemical found in many plants that can cause allergic reactions and toxicity if overdosed, particularly in grazing livestock; but in moderate doses can make useful biofeed for animals.

[It really isn’t used for alot.]

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Commonly known as ‘Sulfur’ it appears as Lemon Yellow Crystals, it smells of rotten eggs.

• Can produce Hydrogen Sulfide used to extract Elemental Sulfur.

• Sulfuric Acid is used to process wastewater; oil refining; and mineral extraction.

• Sulfur compounds are used in detergents, fungicides, dyestuffs.

• When carefully placed into the ground before oxidization it will slowly release creating a sort of fertalizer. Best done by converting it into liquid sulfate however.

• Can be converted into Epsom Salts to make bathes more relaxing or when made into a gel it can be used to treat aches and pains; it is more relaxing due to increasing the body’s serotonin levels and therefore increasing the feeling of relaxation and well being.

• In a bath it can help soothe herpes and itching symptoms/lesions.

• In Poultice form it can be applied directly to acne/blemishes to relieve problems.

• When injected into the vein in the form of magnesium sulfate to aid in severe asthma attacks.

Appearance:

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Used for reducing swelling and inflammation as a tea or compression [wet/warm rag] and also is useful for reducing eye strain and redness as well as bad memory and vertigo. It is believed to aid in strengthening the mind.

The inflammation typically dealt with by eyebright is that caused by colds, fevers, coughs, sinus infections, sore throats, and hay fever. The parts used tend to be that of the leaf, stem, and small pieces of the flower. Usually is prepared in tea or warm compression against the head as mentioned earlier by use of a warm or heated cloth.

Appearance - The most common flower colours are purple, blue-white, and violet. Some species have yellow markings on the lower petal to act as a guide to pollinating insects.

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A well known herb often used as a seasoning; however it has medical value.

• Helps prevent Heart Disease and Cancer.

• Garlic helps prevent accumulation of chloesterol on the vascular walls of animals.

• May help with the common cold and flu; reducing coughs and hoarseness or even croup.

• Will cause bad breath.

• When crushed it creates a powerful anti-fungal compound known as phytoncide.

• It also contains the sulfur containing compounds alliin, ajoene, diallylsulfide, dithiin, S-allylcysteine, and enzymes, vitamin B, proteins, minerals, saponins, flavonoids, and maillard reaction products, which are non-sulfur containing compounds.

• It can be used as a home remedy to help speed recovery from strep throat or other minor ailments because of its antibiotic properties.

• A large number of sulfur compounds contribute to the smell and taste of garlic. Diallyl disulfide is believed to be an important odour component. Allicin has been found to be the compound most responsible for the “hot” sensation of raw garlic.

• This well-known phenomenon of “garlic breath” is alleged to be alleviated by eating fresh parsley. The herb is, therefore, included in many garlic recipes,

• In Taoism mythology, six-clove black garlic is used as part of the process of modifying a Taoist’s genetics. It supposedly endows the users immortality by intensifying their vital energy or “chi.”

• Many cultures have used garlic for protection or white magic, perhaps owing to its reputation as a potent preventative medicine.

• Garlic and onions might be toxic to cats or dogs.

Appearance: See Wal-Mart or picture below.

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A common healing plant that tends to have a greenish appearance and does actually manage to have some fruit; it is well known that ginseng is known to be a natural healing herb.

Positives

• Ginseng root can be double steamed with chicken meat as a soup.

• Adaptogen; this means it is taken orally to increase the body’s resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety, and fatigue.

• Aphrodisiac; This means ginseng will supposedly increase one’s sexual desire.

• It is also a nutritional stimulant.

Negatives

• Inability to sleep or rest. Insomnia

• Other rare symtpoms and side effects can be; nausea, diarrhea, euphoria, head aches, epistaxis, mastalgia.

Appearance: See below, in game it tends to appear as a root when picked and is one of the most widely used.

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The berries of hawthorn are used to make jellies, jams, and syrups.

• Supposedly marks the entrance to alternate worlds. [Don’t buy this one, it’s baloney!]

• Believed rags hung from it would be more useful in healing practices. [Also bogus.]

Appearance - It is a broadly spreading shrub or small tree 5-14 m tall, with a dense crown. The bark is dull brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, 1 to 1.5cm long. The leaves are 2-4 cm long, obovate and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is dark green above and paler underneath.

[If someone can locate a more useful version of Hawthorn and replace this one’s information, that would be awesome.]

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A spikey leafed bush-type plant that is often avoided due to the unpleasant side effects of the berries for humans and the spikey leaves it grows on it for protection from predators.

Positives:

• Holly can be used with looms for the spinning rod. Because holly is dense and can be sanded very smooth, the rod was less likely than other woods to snag threads being used to make cloth.

• Several holly species are used to make caffeine-rich herbal teas; a particular species of it is known to have the highest caffine content of any plant.

Negatives

• Holly berries are mildly toxic and will cause vomiting and/or diarrhea when ingested by people.

• In high concentrations or rather, poorly prepared and too black; the teas made by holly are emetics; this can also be caused by injecting it through a needle. Emetics induce vomiting, while possibly good for purging poisons or toxins; this tends to be considered negative.

Appearance - Holly bushes are commonly recognised by the spikey and thorny nature of the leaves and most people have encountered them throughout their lives; the leaves can vary in color depending on the species of holly but the spikey leaves are often retained.

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Horehound has a very strong smell, and can be recognised by its clusters of hairy, reddish-purple flowers. It can grow up to 3 feet in height.

Parts used: Leaves and shoots.

Flavor: It tastes like a berry flavored rootbeer. [Yay?]

Positives

• Can ease vomiting and nausea.

• Can act as a mild sedative.

• Can aid in suppressing coughs.

• May reduce pain of sore throats.

• Taken in large doses, it acts as a gentle purgative.

• The powdered leaves have also been employed as a vermifuge and the green leaves, bruised and boiled in lard, are made into an ointment which is good for wounds.

• When made into a tea by crushing then boiling the leaves, it will help lessen the severity of the common cold.

Negatives

• Can cause drowsiness.

Appearance - The plant is bushy, producing numerous annual, quadrangular and branching stems, a foot or more in height, on which the whitish flowers are borne in crowded, axillary, woolly whorls. The leaves are much wrinkled, opposite, petiolate, about 1 inch long, covered with white, felted hairs, which give them a woolly appearance. They have a curious, musky smell, which is diminished by drying and lost on keeping.

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Mandrake is a curious type of plant that belongs to the nightshades family oddly enough;

Positives

• Mandrake root can supposedly serve as an anesthetic.

• The leaves are harmless and cooling. They have been used for ointments and other external applications to ulcers

Negatives

• Can cause hallucinations.

Appearance - . The parsley-shaped root is often branched. This root gives off at the surface of the ground a rosette of ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, 6 to 16 inches long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. A number of one-flowered nodding peduncles spring from the neck bearing whitish-green flowers, nearly 2 inches broad, which produce globular, succulent, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes, which ripen in late spring. All parts of the mandrake plant are poisonous.

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[Most is described below that could possibly be said about this herb.]

Positives:

• Used in small amounts to flavor rice cakes and fish.
• May be able to be used in expelling parasitic worms from the body.
• Believed to make dreams more vivid and can be smoked to cause hallucinations.

Negatives:

• Plant is toxic due to, Thujone; this is a chemical inside the plant that by inhibiting GABA receptor activation of neurons in the ingestors of medicines and the neurons may fire more easily which can cause muscle spasms and convulsions. [0.5mg is the safe amount in foods without sage; if sage is applied it is up to 25mg ]]

• Can act as a hallucinogen even from direct contact with the sap, to my understanding. Not necessarily dangerous for a character but could potentially end up causing a problem similar to a minor vertox trip without the perks and addiction and can cause passing out.

Appearance - It is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1-2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with a woody root. The leaves are 5-20 cm long, dark green, pinnate, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stem often has a red-purplish tinge. The rather small flowers (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many yellow or dark red petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads) spread out in racemose panicles.

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More to come in time, just wrote down what I have managed to research so far.