Tag: Digestive Aid

Chinese yam is a starchy, mildly sweet tuber used both as food and as a traditional medicinal ingredient in East Asia. Botanically known as...

Chinese licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), known as gan cao in traditional Chinese medicine, is a sweet, earthy root that shows up in everything from throat...

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a familiar plant with two very different personalities: a pleasantly bitter leafy green and a root that can be roasted...

Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a tiny seed with an outsized reputation because it packs fiber, plant omega-3s, protein, and minerals into a simple, shelf-stable...

Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) is a delicate culinary herb in the parsley family, prized for its soft, feathery leaves and subtle anise-like aroma. Often called...

Cheeseweed (Malva parviflora) is a humble mallow-family plant often found along roadsides and garden edges, yet it has a long history as both a...

Chamomile is one of those gentle herbs that earns its reputation the old-fashioned way: by being reliably useful. Matricaria chamomilla (often called German chamomile,...

Cerasee (Momordica charantia) is a famously bitter climbing vine used both as a food plant and as a traditional herbal tea—especially across the Caribbean...

Centaury is a small flowering herb best known for one thing: a clean, unmistakable bitterness. That bitter taste is not just a sensory quirk—it...

Celandine—more precisely greater celandine (Chelidonium majus)—is a vivid yellow-flowering plant known for its bright orange sap. For centuries, people have used that latex on...

Catmint (Nepeta cataria) is an aromatic mint-family herb best known for its effect on cats, but it has a long, quieter history in human...

Cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) is the bold, sweet-spicy bark that most people mean when they say “cinnamon” in everyday cooking. It has a warm aroma,...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a starchy tropical root that feeds hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is valued for its reliability in hot...

Cascara sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana, also listed botanically as Frangula purshiana) is the dried, aged bark of a North American buckthorn tree that has been...

Carrot (Daucus carota) is a familiar root vegetable, but its health story goes far beyond “good for your eyes.” The orange color comes from...

Carqueja is a traditional South American bitter herb, most associated with Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. The name usually refers to Baccharis trimera, a...

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is the sweet, cocoa-colored pod of a Mediterranean evergreen tree, traditionally eaten as a food and increasingly used as a functional...

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is a close cousin of globe artichoke and, in many modern references, part of the same species complex. It is prized...

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is a fragrant spice from the ginger family, prized for its sweet, eucalyptus-like aroma and its long tradition of use for...

Caraway (Carum carvi) is a fragrant seed-spice from the parsley family that has earned a special place in both traditional herb cabinets and everyday...

Cape aloe (Aloe ferox) is a striking South African aloe best known for two very different preparations from the same leaf: a soothing inner...

Canella (Canella winterana) is an aromatic Caribbean tree whose bark has been used for centuries as both a warming spice and a practical household...

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) is best known as an evergreen, white-flowering groundcover, but the Iberis genus also has a lesser-known place in modern herbal research....

Calamus (Acorus calamus), often called sweet flag, is an aromatic wetland plant whose rhizome has a long history in traditional systems for digestion, respiratory...