URBAN HERBS: Medicinal Plants at Georgetown University



Georgetown University Medical Center	Department of Physiology and Biophysics >> Complementary and Alternative Medicine
URBAN HERBS: Medicinal Plants at Georgetown University

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Monographs Available:
Autumn Crocus, Bee Balm, Bishop's Flower, Blackberry Lily, Blanketflower, Burdock, Butterfly Weed, Canada Thistle, Calendula, Catnip, Chaste Tree, Chicory, Chives, Curled Dock, Dandelion, English Plantain, Evening Primrose, Feverfew, Foxglove, German Chamomile, Ginkgo, Horse Nettle, Japanese Knotweed, Jimsonweed, Lavender, Lemon balm, Lemon mint, Lamb's Quarters, Maximillian sunflower, Mexican Hat, Moss Verbena, Mugwort, Mullein, Plains Coreopsis, Pokeweed, Purple Coneflower, Purslane, Red Clover, Roman Chanomile, Rosemary, Scarlet flax, Stevia, White Clover, Yarrow, Yellow Sweet Clover, Yellow Wood Sorrel

Browse the short entries below. For more information, click on the common name from the list above or the photo of the plant below.

	AUTUMN CROCUS Colchicum autumnale Also known as meadow saffron, but should not be confused with saffron or members of the crocus family, as it contains extremely toxic alkaloids. Native to the Mediterranean region, it is commonly found in woody areas of the Northern hemisphere (Lewis 2003).
	BEE BALM Monarda fistulosa Also known as scarlet, lavender, purple, or wild bergamot. Bee balm is native to the eastern US and favored by pollinators like bees and hummingbirds (Newcomb 1977). Bee balm has fragrant leaves and presents beautiful red or purple flowers that look like fireworks.
	BISHOP'S FLOWER Ammi majus Annual. Native to North Africa and Eurasia, but now naturalized. Ammi majus is used by florists for its beautiful white flowers, which appear in umbels. This plant is easily confused with Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), but Daucus carota can be identified by the distinctive single purple floret in the center of the umbel, which Ammi majus lacks (Newcomb 1977).
	BLACKBERRY LILY Belamcanda chinensis Also known as leopard flower, due to its purple-spotted orange flower. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Belamcanda chinensis is called She-gan. Native to Nepal, India, Bhutan, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, this member of the iris family can now be found on roadsides and in open woods in the southern United States.
	BLANKETFLOWER Gallardia aristata Both species of Gallardia are found throughout U.S.: blooming between July and September (G. aristata) or May through August (G. pulchella). G. aristata is an erect perennial 2-4 ft. plant, with clasping, dandelion-like leaves. The inch-long petals have yellow, 3-toothed tips and dark red bases. These surround disk flowers that are the same color as the base of the petals (Wildflower 2009)..
	BURDOCK Arctium lappa, A. minus The leaves of burdock are egg-shaped and entire (somewhat toothed); the lower leaves are usually heart-shaped. The purple flowers are in bristly heads. Common burdock (A. lappa) is two to four feet tall, has stalkless or short-stalked flowerheads and hollow leaf stalks. Great burdock (A. lappa) is larger (up to eight feet tall), with solid, deeply grooved leaf stalks that resemble celery. Burdock appears from summer to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	BUTTERFLY WEED or PLEURISY ROOT Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed or pleurisy root has a hairy stem, umbels of showy, orange flowers, and alternate, lance-shaped or narrow leaves, about two to five inches long. It stands one to two feet high during the summer (Newcomb 1997).
	CALENDULA Calendula officinalis Also known as pot marigold. Calendula is an annual, native to southern Europe, and grows well in direct sun (Grieve 1998).
	CANADA THISTLE Cirsium arvense The Canada thistle has creeping underground stems with small, numerous purple or occasionally white flower heads (Newcomb 1977).
	CATNIP Nepeta cataria Nepetas make up a large group of hardy, herbaceous plants native to parts of Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Himalayas that have since become naturalized in U.S. and Canada as well. N. cataria is generally regarded by herbalists as the true medicinal Catmint, having a history of being cultivated since ancient times for that purpose.
	CHASTE-TREE Vitex agnus-castus Chaste-tree is a shrub with palmate leaves made up of five to seven linear, lance-shaped, toothed, leaflets that are dark green above, gray underneath, and covered with a close felt. The fragrant purple flowers are on slender racemes three to six inches long (Grieve 1998). The aromatic berries resemble black pepper.
	CHICORY Cichorium intybus Chicory is one to four feet high, with toothed, lobed or entire leaves that somewhat clasp the stem. The rays of chicory are blue (occasionally white) and toothed at the tip. The flower heads are about one to one and a half inches wide and stalkless along the branches (Newcomb 1977).
	CHIVES or CHINESE CHIVES Allium tuberosum Native to China, this edible herb tastes like a cross between onion and garlic. Please don’t confuse this herb with the inedible and possibly toxic rain lilies (Zephyranthes atamasco) in our plot – chives smell like onions and rain lilies will not.
	CURLED DOCK or YELLOW DOCK Rumex crispus The curled dock has lance-shaped, pointed, lower leaves that are with strongly curled borders. The three flat wings of the fruit are heart-shaped and are entire, and may be faintly toothed. The distinctly stalked flowers grow in whorls forming several branched racemes (Newcomb 1997).
	DANDELION Taraxacum officinale Dandelions, like the other nine species making up the Taraxacum genus, is hardy perennial that contains a milky juice and are identifiable by its basal rosettes with often downy leaves (Le Strange 1977). Dandelion is a stemless plant with a simple tap-root and deeply serrated leaves, blooming single bright yellow flowers terminally that appear at almost any time of the year but mainly during April to November.
	ENGLISH PLANTAIN or RIBWORT PLANTAIN Plantago lanceolata The leaves of English plantain are lance-shaped, and ribbed. The inconspicuous flowers are in a dense spike and can be seen from spring to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	EVENING PRIMROSE Oenothera officinalis Native to Europe and North America, this hardy biennial herb is now cultivated in other temperate regions. Evening primrose grows well in all zones and produces yellow flowers that open at twilight (Newcomb 1977). Each bloom lasts only one night.
	FEVERFEW Tanacetum parthenium (previously Chrysanthemum parthenium) Feverfew is one to three feet high and has white flowers with ten to twenty oblong rays. The numerous flowerheads are one to two inches wide, and occur in clusters. The leaves are divided into egg-shaped segments. (Newcomb 1977).
	FOXGLOVE Digitalis lanata and D. purpurea Foxglove is three to six feet high, with ovate to lance-shaped, soft-hairy, toothed, leaves up to one foot long in a basal rosette. The purple to white, spotted, thimble-shaped flowers are 1.25 inches long, in spikes. It can be identified in the summer (Foster 1990). D. lanata has long, narrow leaves and smaller, yellow-brown flowers. Foxgloves are commonly cultivated as ornamentals in North America.
	GERMAN CHAMOMILE Matricaria recutita German chamomile originated in Europe, Iran, and Afghanistan, but this fragrant annual is now cultivated all around the world (Grieve 1998, Foster 1990).
	GINKGO Ginkgo biloba Ginkgo biloba, also called maidenhair tree, is a tall, deciduous tree with fan-shaped leaves that are long-stemmed and two-lobed (hence the species name biloba). The leaves turn golden in autumn. The yellow fruits contain a hard seed (Weiss 1998).
	HORSE NETTLE Solanum carolinense Horse nettle, a prickly plant, has violet, star-shaped flowers in small clusters. The stamens form a yellow cone in the middle of the flower. Its leaves are coarsely toothed or lobed. Horse nettle stands one to four feet high and is seen in the summer and fall (Newcomb 1977).
	JAPANESE KNOTWEED Polygonum cuspidatum Japanese knotweed is a large, bushy plant, about four to ten feet high, with leaves that are broad, with shortpoints at the tip. The greenish-white flowers grow in branching spikes. Flowers usually grow from leaf axils, and can be seen from summer to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	JIMSONWEED or THORN APPLE Datura stramonium Jimsonweed is one to five feet high, and has egg-shaped, pointed, coarsely toothed leaves that are two to eight inches long. Its white, violet or lavender funnel-shaped flowers are about two and a half to four inches long. Its fruit is a spiny pod, about two inches long, which is why it is commonly called thornapple. It can be seen from summer to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	LAMB'S QUARTERS Chenopodium album Chenopodium album, or lamb’s quarters, is an erect, branched, annual plant with whitish underbody leaves that are thin and coarsely toothed. The unstalked, tiny, inconspicuous flowers are light brown or faint green as they blossom in groups on spikes covered with meal between June and October (Erichsen-Brown 1979).
	LAVENDER Lavandula spp. Lavenders grow up to one to three feet high, with opposite, entire, and linear leaves. The stem is covered with yellowish-grey, flaky bark. The short-stalked lavender flowers are in whorls of six to ten flowers on terminating, blunt spikes (Grieve 1998).
	LEMONMINT Monarda citriodora Monarda citriodora is an aromatic winter annual that grows to a height of 1-2 ft. It has unusual, tuft-like, lavender to pink, whorled flower heads that bloom during May through July (Wildflower 2009).
	LEMON BALM Melissa officinalis This bushy perennial herb is native to the eastern Mediterranean region, western Asia, and mountainous parts of southern Europe, but has been naturalized and now grows abundantly worldwide (Grieve 1931, Foster 2006). The heart-shaped leaves have a refreshing lemony flavor.
	MAXIMILLIAN SUNFLOWER Helianthus maximiliani Maximillian sunflower is almost shrub-like as it grows with several tall, leafy, unbranched stems of flowering tops to a height of 3-10 feet. Leaves are long and narrow, varying in length as it shortens towards the top. They are alternate, coarse, hairy, and are slightly toothed as they end in a point. Yellow flowers growing terminally from stalks or from leaf axils can be up to 5 inches across and have centers that are greenish brown. (Wildflower 2009)
	MEXICAN HAT Ratibida columnifera Also known as Prairie coneflower or Thimble-flower, Ratibida columnifera is drought tolerant annual to perennial variety identifiable by the black, cone-shaped heads surrounded by drooping, yellow or yellow-red flower petals.
	MOSS VERBENA Verbena tenuisecta A sprawling ornamental perennial in the south, but annual in the north, that is intolerant of the cold, moss verbena grows to a height of 12-18” in height and has small rich bluish purple flowers in bouquet-like clusters. It is very drought tolerant, prefers full sun, can take infrequent mowing, as its blooming period lasts between March and July (TAMU 2009).
	MUGWORT Artemisia vulgaris Mugwort is a hardy perennial with a tough reddish stem and large segmental leaves that appear white and furry underneath, but dark green above (Erichsen-Brown 1979). They have grayish flowers that bloom as stalks from the stem from July to September. Mugwort is an aggressive and invasive plant, often inhibiting the growth of nearby plants by means of roots secretions.
	MULLEIN Verbascum thapsus Mullein is a strong-growing hardy biennial herb that presents with alternating leaves and long terminal spikes of mostly yellow flowers. This species is also know as Great Mullein or Aaron’s rod and grows tall, up to a height of 78 inches with grayish, downy or woolly basal leaves. Between July and September, the plants bloom with club-shaped spikes of yellow flowers (Le Strange 1977). Update monograph page regarding img (not mugwort)
	PLAINS COREOPSIS Coreopsis tinctoria A hardy upright annual that prefers full sun and can tolerate a range of soil drainage, Plains coreopsis is characterized by delicate lance-like, opposite leaves, that bloom mahogany-red flowers with yellowish, globular heads (TAMU 2009).
	POKEWEED Phytolacca americana Pokeweed is a stout, branching plant standing from four to ten feet high from summer to fall, with racemes of white or pinkish flowers a quarter inch wide. The berries are dark purple (Newcomb 1977).
	PURPLE CONEFLOWER Echinacea purpurea, other Echinacea species) The purple coneflower rays are reddish purple, and droop. The flowerhead is about two and a half to four inches wide with a bristly center. The lower leaves are egg-shaped and have long stalks. The entire flower stands two to five feet high and can be seen from summer to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	PURSLANE Portulaca oleracea Purslane is a fast growing annual herb that spreads low to the ground. It has smooth, fleshy stems that are green with a reddish purple hue and leaves that are alternate and opposite in arrangement. The leaves are approximately 1-2” long and half that in width, broadest at the rounded tip. Flowers are a pale yellow that bloom at the tips of the branches and are quite small (Elias 1982).
	RED CLOVER Trifolium pratense Red clover is a perennial, 6-24 inches high, with a dense, stalkless head of magenta or purple flowers. The oval leaflets are usually marked with a white “V.” Red clovers can be seen from spring to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	ROMAN CHAMOMILEChamaemelum nobile Also known as English or sweet chamomile, this creeping perennial is native to southern and western Europe, but is now grown widely in American herb gardens (Foster 1990).
	ROSEMARYRosmarinus officinalis Native to Spain, Portugal, and the Western Mediterranean region, this aromatic evergreen shrub can grow three feet high and presents pale blue or violet flowers (Fugh-Berman 2003).
	SCARLET FLAX Linum rubrum A hardy, heat and drought-tolerant annual, scarlet flax grows to a height of 12-24” with glossy, deep scarlet flowers that bloom in profusion between April and September
	STEVIAStevia rebaudiana Native to high altitude regions of Paraguay and Brazil, Stevia grows well in warm climates and is cultivated in Brazil, Israel, Japan, Korea, and China (Fugh-Berman 2003).
	WHITE CLOVER Trifolium repens White clover, a common weed of grassy places, with a dense head of white or pale-pink flowers. The finely toothed basal leaves are divided into three leaflets, each of which bears a triangular mark. The stem creeps close to the ground. It is noticeable from spring to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	YARROW Achillea millefolium Commonly found in fields and near roadsides, yarrow grows in temperate zones worldwide. This thick-stalked plant with finely dissected leaves presents a large corymb of small white, pink, or yellow flowers (Newcomb 1977).
	YELLOW SWEET CLOVER Melilotus officinalis Yellow sweet clover has fragrant leaves; when crushed or dried they give off the scent of new-mown hay. The yellow flowers are in racemes that are about two to four inches long. Each leaf is divided into three leaflets and finely toothed. Yellow sweet clover stands three to eight feet high, and can be seen from late spring to fall (Newcomb 1977).
	YELLOW WOOD SORREL or WOOD SORREL Oxalis europaea or O. stricta Yellow wood sorrel stands three to fifteen inches high, with an erect stem and flowers a quarter to half an inch wide. Yellow wood sorrel is a common weed. It has three leaflets that are notched at the tip. It is visible from spring to fall. The leaves contain oxalic acid and are sour to the taste (Newcomb 1977).

Georgetown University Medical Center	Department of Physiology and Biophysics >> Complementary and Alternative Medicine