The Herbal Library

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Browse every herb in the database by name, category, or the body system it's traditionally associated with.

All categories Aromatic Culinary Medicinal

Results

13 herbs

No. 001Aromatic

African Geranium

Pelargonium graveolens

Rose geranium, the South African source of geranium oil. In small trials, breathing in the oil eased pain and tiredness, and a gel helped a denture-related fungal infection.

No. 002Aromatic

Balsam Fir

Abies balsamea

A fragrant North American fir whose needles and oil killed Lyme disease ticks in winter field tests.

No. 003Aromatic

Coyote Tobacco

Nicotiana attenuata

A wild tobacco of western North America. Indigenous peoples of the Columbia Plateau smoked native tobacco for at least 1,200 years.

No. 004Aromatic

Diosma

Coleonema album

A fragrant South African shrub that the Khoisan rub on their skin. Its oil slowed a skin fungus in the lab.

No. 005Aromatic

Eaglewood

Aquilaria malaccensis

Agarwood or oud, the fragrant resin-filled heartwood of an Asian tree, prized for incense, perfume and traditional medicine.

No. 006Aromatic

Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

A purple-flowered herb prized for its scent and traditionally used to relax.

No. 007Aromatic

Lemon Myrtle

Backhousia citriodora

An Australian tree whose lemon-scented leaves are a First Nations remedy for wounds and mouth care. Its oil is one of the richest sources of citral and kills germs in lab tests.

No. 008Aromatic

Palo Santo

Bursera graveolens

A fragrant tree from dry forests of Mexico to Peru whose wood is burned as incense. Lab studies of its essential oil, which is mostly limonene, found it killed some microbes and repelled mosquitoes.

No. 009Aromatic

Sandalwood

Santalum album

Indian sandalwood, whose fragrant heartwood oil is prized in perfume and valued in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. Much oil sold as sandalwood is fake.

No. 010Aromatic

Spikenard

Nardostachys jatamansi

A fragrant, endangered Himalayan plant whose root is used in traditional Chinese medicine for pain and digestion. It has only been studied in the lab.

No. 011Aromatic

Sweet Birch

Betula lenta

An eastern North American birch whose bark oil is almost pure methyl salicylate, like wintergreen oil. Commercial "birch oils" are often fake.

No. 012Aromatic

Sweetgrass

Hierochloe odorata

A sweet-smelling northern grass, braided and burned by Native Americans in smudging and used as a perfume by the Sámi.

No. 013Aromatic

White Sage

Salvia apiana

A silvery Californian sage burned in Native American cleansing rituals and now widely sold in smudge sticks. Its oil has only been studied in the lab.