The story of herbs is as old as history. In the early pages of Genesis we read ‘Even as the green herb have I given you all things’, a statement once again placed early in civilization by the discoveries of ancient writing at Ur of the Chaldees. In the Psalms, considerably later, there is the pleasant comment ‘God who maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of man’.

These quotations imply that in earlier times all green plants were considered herbs, and it is as the practical use declines that the number of plants regarded as herbs is reduced also. (more…)