Herbology News // The Connective Issue

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Contents Editorial A Final Fond Farewell (or is it?)

Erratum

Kyra Pollitt

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Artist of the Month

Chris Drury

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Herb of the Month Of Weeds & Weans Notes from the Brew Room Plant Medicine and Social Justice

Marianne Hughes, Hazel Brady Joseph Nolan Ann King Grassroots Remedies

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Our Man in the Field….

Nota Bene: A Guide to Sustainable Foraging Nota Bene: The Scottish Wild Mushroom Code

Dave Hughes meets Rupert Waites The Woodland Trust Scottish Natural Heritage

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The Messy Medic Jazz Ecology The Chemistry Column

Khadija Meghrawi Ramsey Affifi Dr. Audrey Cameron

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Garden Gems The Globe Physic Garden The Physic Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Ruth Crighton-Ward Marianne Hughes Sutherland Forsyth

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Plantstuffs

Elizabeth Oliver

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Plants and Places Herbal Histories Foraging Through Folklore

Jake King Claire MacKay Ella Leith

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Botanica Fabula StAnza Presents…

Amanda Edmiston Jenny Elliott

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Book Club: Richie McBride reviews The Overstory by Richard Powers (Vintage, 2019) Nathalie Moriarty reviews Into the Forest by Dr. Qing Li (Penguin, 2019) Kyra Pollitt reviews Murder Most Florid by Dr. Mark Spencer (Quadrille, 2019) Duncan Ross offers a snippet of Poyntzfield’s new booklet

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The Herbologist’s Diary

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Contributors

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The Grand Herbology News Winter Raffle

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Looking Forward

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Editorial

The Connective Issue A zine is a living and growing thing. I’ve never been an Editor before, so nurturing this issue has entailed a journey through the new, relying on an ever-expanding safety net. My first task as Editor was to consider the scope of this publication. I settled on: therapeutic engagements with plants.

This allows medicinal herbology to continue to take centre stage (see Of Weeds & Weans, Herbal Histories, The Messy Medic, and Notes From the Brew Room), invites us to stretch our perspectives (Jazz Ecology, and The Chemistry Column), and warmly embraces the benefits of more holistic encounters with nature— from the hands-on Garden Gems and Plantstuffs, to the more abstracted Foraging through Folklore, Botanica Fabula and the wonderful StAnza showcase. We draw comfort and health from plants in myriad ways.

Just as diverse is our strong, deep and supportive herbology network. Each and every columnist on these pages has given their time, energy and expertise freely, generously and happily, squeezing their commitment in between launching a new academic year, taking emergency shifts in a hospital, tending to families, and much else besides.

I am particularly grateful to Maddy Mould, whose glorious illustrations lend such character to these pages, and to Hazel Brady whose illustration graces our Herb of the Month. Together, Maddy and Hazel have not only produced illustrations, but taken on the role of Production Team— formatting and setting all the copy.

I am very grateful to all these contributors, and I trust you will enjoy the new format and relish the fruits of their labours. Do let us know your thoughts.

The zine is still a work in progress, and I think that’s how it will always be. As Editor, being party to such a web of warm energies and fascinating conversations is wonderful, but I can’t deny the relief when the promised articles began to trickle into the inbox, and I could enjoy perhaps the greatest perk of the job— having exclusive access to all the copy.

Dear reader, there are treats in store in these pages!

Not that everything has gone smoothly this month. Our plans to bring you a chef’s recipe and a lovely herbally-inspired cocktail (because you’re worth it) buckled under the pressures currently hitting that sector. And there are other gaps we’d like to fill. In particular we’d like to add: a botanist’s column; a column on flower therapies; an aromatherapy column; a column on trees; and more herbal crafting. Perhaps you could offer one of these, or something we haven’t yet considered? We’re all ears. Just drop us a line at herbologynews@gmail.com. You’ll be most welcome here.

We’d also like to test the idea of adding a Community Noticeboard to these pages, so if you have any free events to share, please just send details to herbologynews@gmail.com. Bear in mind that Herbology News will be issued at the very end of each calendar month. And if you are planning something more commercial, or have products to retail, please do take a look at our Herbologist’s Diary.

Once you have feasted on the contents of this ‘connective’ issue, we have one final favour to ask. This month we encourage you to reach out.

Please help us grow our readership by sharing this edition with anyone you feel might enjoy it.

To subscribe, your friends simply need to drop an email to herbologynews@gmail.com, with the subject line ‘Add me’, or click here.

Herbology News has grown from the Herbology courses taught at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, under the careful eye of Catherine Conway-Payne.

A suite of Herbology course options are available, as part of the broad range of education courses offered by RBGE.

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A Final Fond Farewell (Or Is It?)

As the editorial baton passes, Catherine Conway-Payne echoes all our thoughts in a message to the outgoing Editor: On behalf of all our dedicated Herbology News contributors and readers, I would like to say such a very BIG thankyou to the lovely Ann Crosthwaite, who has been our wonderful and ever so diligent Editor over the last couple of years.

During her time with us, Ann has fully embraced the spirit of the original publication (so cleverly initiated by former RBGE Dip. Herb graduate Catherine Sanderson) and infused its ensuing design, structure, and content development (such as the delightfully conceived ‘Herbology Twiglets’) with her own particular artistic style and aesthetic.

Herbology News has become a thing of beauty under her editorial hand and has gained a wide following of enthused herbologists as a result.

Ann (who, as with all RBGE Herbology graduates remains very much in the herbology fold) will now be taking more time to develop her own business online. She has already been busy creating virtual herb walks and workshops. No doubt she will share here all her latest herbal endeavours and keep us posted on things in which we might be able to participate. Please do, Ann. Thank you so much for all that you have done for Herbology News.

With fondest and best wishes from all your herbology chums. x Editor’s note: Of course, we couldn’t let Ann escape entirely and she has kindly agreed to take time out of her busy practice to contribute a monthly herbal recipe, in Notes from the Brew Room..

Erratum In the August edition of Herbology News, the Japanese herb Dokudami was mis-spelled as Dukodami. We apologize for this error. The eagle-eyed Duncan Ross further points out that the specimen in the herbology beds at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh was supplied by Poyntzfield Herb Nursery, having been collected beside a Shinto shrine next to Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. For those keen to learn more, Dokudami features in the booklet Herbs of Japan available from www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk. .

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Artist of the Month

Chris Drury chrisdrury.co.uk Chris is an environmental artist making sitespecific, nature-based sculpture— sometimes known as Land Art, or Art in Nature.

Combining art and science, Chris is interested in making connections between phenomena; specifically between nature and culture, inner and outer, microcosm and macrocosm.

He works on paper, with maps, with digital and video forms, and with mushrooms.

For more than a decade, Chris has been making links between systems in the body and systems on the planet and considers his art political, in that it draws attention to the way we abuse our environments.

Featured in key Land Art surveys in both the UK and America, his past projects include a residency at the Nirox Foundation in The Cradle of Humankind— a World Heritage site in South Africa; a British Antarctic Survey residency; a work for the Australian National University in Canberra; and an exhibition (Mushroom/ Clouds) at the Nevada Museum of Art. Chris writes: I first became interested in mushrooms when I was a student and was reading John Cage. His interest both in chance and in fungi, prompted me to go to Epping Forest in the autumn and join some Italian restaurant owners in a search for edible fungi. With a book in hand to identify what I was finding, I soon found this was certainly a chance affair.

Although some fungi have a relationship to particular trees, like Ceps and Chanterelles, you had to be in the right place at the right time and there was no saying when and where that was.

Nevertheless, the sheer number and complexity of fungi in the forest was totally absorbing. I was lost for hours in this alternative world.

I didn’t use mushrooms to make art until I began making Medicine Wheel, in 1982. The simple spore print at the

centre of this great wheel of a work seemed to be a microcosm, not just visually, but metaphorically: fungi recycle dead matter back in to soil and new life. Through fungi our world is transformed and renewed. As such, they represent the cycle of life, death and regeneration. Mushrooms feed you, kill you, heal you and alter your mind. They are the largest organism on earth and without them life would cease to be.

If you take the fruiting body of a mushroom, cut off the stem and leave the head overnight on a piece of paper— black for white spores, white for all the rest— and put a bowl over it to stop the air moving, then the head will drop its spores in the pattern of the gills. Remove the head in the morning and you are left with this utterly astounding image. It is so beautiful, it seems to stop the world— it is a mandala, a medicine wheel. It focuses the attention, stops the wandering mind.

I very soon found the act of searching for fungi was a stilling of the world in itself and it ceased to be about finding species to eat, becoming an opportunity to explore diversity. I also realised that the most poisonous of fungi had a certain aura, so I began collecting those too; identifying them and making a library of spore prints, carefully secured with fixative spray, then scanning them as images to be printed from a computer.

We are very grateful to Chris for permission to feature the following works: Cover image: Mushroom Cloud Commissioned for the Schlossmediale Festival, Werdenberg, Switzerland. Installed in a windowless, stone room in the basement of the castle, the work is 5m tall x 2.3m wide. The umbrella of the mushroom cloud is composed of around 18,000 dried mushroom slices.

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Artist of the Month Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes – page 6 This work is painted in dust and ashes from the same castle and so contains some of its invisible history.

Log Pile Spore Print – page 17 This piece was burned onto the ends of a log pile in the village, using a cook’s blow lamp.

Werdenberg is the oldest wooden village in Europe.

Arte Sella, Mushroom Cloud (detail) – page 22 An installation in The Malga Costa barn, Arte Sella, in the Sella Valley, Borgo Valsugana, Italy.

A mushroom cloud of over 6000 pieces of dried fungi slices, sealed in acrylic and suspended on nylon thread between a steel frame and the floor, lit from beneath. 230 x 500cm Spore Grid Web – page 30 35 R type prints on 2mm aluminium from 2cm spore prints on glass slides. Each 39 x 39cm.

Overall grid 194 x 273cm.

Any combination and number available as digital prints mounted on 2mm aluminium.

Medicine Wheel – page 36 16th August 1982 – 15th August 1983. One natural object for each day of the year. Twelve segments of paper; one for each month, made during that month from the pulp of particular plants. A mushroom spore print. 230cm diam. x 8cm deep. Held in the collection of Leeds City Art Gallery.

Ink Cap II – page 38 1996. Ink Cap spore print and handwritten text in Ink Cap ink on card. 56 x 76cm.

“I used ink splurges to make Ink Cap I, II, III (these fungi have so much water that a spore print becomes a splurge), just writing Ink Cap in ink cap ink with a reed pen.”

Available for sale.

Chris is happy to entertain requests for exhibitions, collaborations, interior installations and exterior, site-specific works.

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Herb of the Month

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)— the tree of life mushroom Marianne Hughes, with illustration by Hazel Brady Reishi and other fungi have been used by humans as medicine for the last 5000 years. In China, Korea, Japan and other Asian countries, Reishi can be seen in a variety of art— on temple walls, in tapestries, in statues, and in paintings. The Chinese word for Reishi, Ling zhi, translates as ‘tree of life mushroom’, ‘spirit plant’ or ‘mushroom/herb of immortality’. In the Japanese tradition, Reishi has the meaning ‘divine or spiritual mushroom’.

So, why is Reishi associated with immortality?

This seems to be because it has a wide range of health benefits; anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, sedative, anti-hypertensive, anti-cancer and, through a special affinity with the lungs, offers particular benefits for people with bronchitis and bronchial asthma (Rogers, 2011). Reishi’s action in addressing any underlying immune imbalance— which can predispose the body to overreact to, say, pollen —helps to both prevent and alleviate allergic symptoms.

This combination of immunomodulatory and antiinflammatory actions makes Reishi useful in auto-

immune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and ulcerative colitis.

Wild Reishi is rare. Most Reishi is cultivated— growing well on elm, alder, oak, and husks of sunflower seeds. It is cultivated in 15 countries worldwide, with an annual production of around 15,000 tons (this compares with 200 tons 25 years ago).

The chemistry of mushrooms is complex, but Martin Powell’s Medicinal Mushrooms: A Clinical Guide is recommended for those wanting to delve deeper. For this article, I have drawn on Monica Wilde’s recent How to make Medicine from Mushrooms: Part 1. Monica explains how mushrooms come from two broad groups of chemicals; beta-glucan polysaccharides, and triterpenes. It would appear that it is the high polysaccharide content of Reishi that provides the noted immune-modulatory effect in humans, whilst the triterpenes stimulate cytotoxic activity against cancer cells.

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Herb of the Month Beta-glucan polysaccharides form chitin, Wilde tells us, which is a vital part of the cell walls of all mushrooms, from the lowly white button mushroom to the mighty Reishi …. you just can’t be a mushroom without having chitin made from these polysaccharides.

It is these beta-glucan polysaccharides that serve as important medicine for our immune systems, both strengthening and maintaining balance.

This issue of balance, or immune modulation, is topical as, in some people, Covid-19 stimulates an over-reaction of the immune system (known as a cytokine storm), resulting in severe organ damage. Cytokines are ‘small, soluble proteins that act as intracellular mediators in an immune response’ (Guggenheim, 2014) and mushrooms have an ability to modulate cytokine production.

Since our digestive systems are not used to breaking down chitin, the beta-glucan polysaccharides found in Reishi must be extracted using hot water; “the tough cell walls of mushrooms tend to hang on to their betaglucan polysaccharides”. Wilde recommends a decoction of powdered, dried mushroom. To decoct, boil the substance in water, and simmer gently for an hour. The powdered form exposes more of the mushroom to water.

References Guggenheim, A.G. et al (2014) Immune Modulation From Five Major Mushrooms: Application to Integrative Oncology, www.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684115/ (accessed 07.09.2020) Kew Gardens (2018) State of the World’s Fungi www.stateoftheworldsfungi.org (accessed 31.08.2020) Powell, M. (2013) Medicinal Mushrooms: The Essential Guide, Mycology Press Powell, M. (2014) Medicinal Mushrooms: A Clinical Guide, Mycology Press Rogers, R. (2011) The Fungal Pharmacy: The Complete Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms & Lichens of North America, North Atlantic Books Berkeley, California Wilde, M. (2020) Wild Food, Wild Medicine, Wild You www.monicawilde.com (accessed 27.08.2020) of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020

An increasing amount of clinical research confirms many of the health benefits of mushrooms. Much of the research quoted by Powell (2013, 2014) and others originates in Japan and China, however the Western journals seem to be catching-up.

Now that gentle and balanced support for our immune systems has gained critical importance, perhaps the 5000-year history of the benefits of mushrooms will again become more widely valued.

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Of Weeds & Weans

Autumn Immunity Joseph Nolan As a professional herbalist with a speciality in paediatrics, I often see children whose immune systems are not quite up to scratch. Maybe the child had croup as a baby, or is dairy intolerant, or was born by C-section; or maybe there is no obvious reason this child should be prone to illness when three siblings are not. These things happen.

Most often, children with underperforming immune systems come to see me with either chronically runny noses and coughs (because the one begets the other); ear, tonsil, or adenoid issues; or molluscum contagiosum.

So, how do I know a child’s immune system needs some help? There are a few things to look for. While all children get sick sometimes, if any or all of the following persist, a little immune help will certainly not go amiss.

Signs of Poor Immunity 1) Frequent illness; major (tonsillitis, ‘flu, high fevers), or minor (runny noses, coughs). These children get sick a lot and may miss a lot of school.

2) Energy and stamina are lower than other children. I look for unusual daily napping, or an unusual need for serious rest.

3) Pallor. I see some pale and listless children in clinic. You can bet your bottom dollar these kids will need immune support, as well as a diet rethink, and more sleep. Take note of the peelywally child.

Having identified a weak immune system, what do I do about it?

Herbal Immune Helpers Well, as it happens, this month’s featured herb, Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi Mushroom) is my ace in the hole. I’ve found it second to none as an immune strengthener. It works fairly quickly, suits most everyone, is very safe and very reliable. I use it a lot, mostly in tincture form. Dried Reishi slices are hard to come by, and the powdered extract, although wonderfully potent, tastes diabolical. Foragers can check out Ganoderma applanatum (Artist’s Conk, Artist’s Bracket) as an alternative, bearing in mind that it is unusual in Britain as a whole. It is, however, locally common in our damp dark Scottish woods. If you wish to gather it, be 100% certain of your ID, and most of all forage sustainably.

Next, of course, we have Sambucus nigra (Elderberry, Elderflower). Elder is reliable and safe, with the distinct advantage of being delicious. For coughs and chest complaints, you really can’t do better than Elderberry. Use the berries with anti-infectives like thyme, cloves, and ginger, and immune builders like echinacea. My preferred form is a glycerite, a sweet and (sugarfree!) syrup-like extract in vegetable glycerine. You can use dried Elderberries to make syrup, glycerite, and tincture, but admittedly fresh/frozen are tastier, so foraging your own might be the way to go.

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Of Weeds & Weans Dried Elderberries are great in broths and soups, crushed and used in herbal tea blends, chutneys, and in baking.

NB: Do not use Elderberries raw. A few off the tree is fine, but they are mildly toxic, causing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea if consumed raw in any quantity. Early in my herbal career, I made the mistake of juicing them, drinking about a shot glassful of dark purple juice. All I can say is don’t.

Elderflower is at its best with upper respiratory infections: runny noses, throaty coughs, sore throat, and achy shivery cold and ‘flu. It helps with chills, and very gently aids sleep in feverish children. Use it in tea, tincture, or glycerite.

One of my favourite herbs for strengthening immunity is Galium aperine (Cleavers). With illness, if all you do is use anti-infectives like thyme and sage, you are essentially fighting the infection directly, the equivalent of cutting a fire line. You might stop the progression, but you have done nothing about the 1000 acres of tinder-dry forest behind you, so while you have stopped this fire, there will surely be another. Cleavers brings rain. Lots and lots of rain. Cleavers is a lymphatic; bringing immune cells, clearing products of inflammation and the detritus of infection fighting, and soothing sore swollen nodes by improving the flow of lymph through the body. In clinic, while I do use it in tincture, tea is my preferred form. If you are moving water, you need water to move— so the

liquid in tea is part of the medicine. For general immunity, and more specifically sore throats, ear problems, tonsillitis, swellings, and in children prone to swollen glands, you can get a very long way on Cleavers alone.

Lastly, there is the most excellent children’s herb Calendula officinalis (Pot Marigold). It is more anti-infective than Cleavers, but less powerfully lymphatic. They work very well together. Calendula has the added benefits of tightening and helping tissue to heal— rather like Elderflower, with which it also combines well— so sore throats, badly inflamed nasal tissues, and skin infections, get Calendula.

Tea, again, is my preferred form, but a 25% tincture also works admirably.

Lastly, here is an indispensable home remedy for colds, coughs, and infections, suitable for children of any age (it works on adults, too!).

Garlic Socks Allium sativum (Garlic) is a wonderful anti-septic.

The pungent essential oil is released via the lungs, hence the smell, and it is an exceptional anti-infective and expectorant. Think of Garlic especially for chesty coughs, with deep rattly phlegm and green or yellow gunge, as well as flu and streaming colds. Here is a great way to use it: -Crush a clove or two.

-Put an old pair of socks on the wee feet.

-Spread the crushed garlic on the soles of the socked feet.

-Put a second pair of old socks on over the garlic.

-Put the sick little person to bed, bearing in mind that the whole bed will stink from garlic by the morning. In the morning, remove the socks, and carry on with your day.

-Repeat the whole process for three nights running. Little person will be (99% guaranteed!) fit as a fiddle by the end.

NB: Do not apply Garlic directly to the skin, it will burn. Children’s feet, with their thin soft skin, will readily absorb the Garlic fumes (you’ll smell it on the breath pretty quickly) and it will work its magic.

Healthy herbing!

Photos: Joseph Nolan

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Notes From The Brew Room

Berry Recipes Ann King Clusters of elderberries are beginning to decorate our hedgerows and field margins, signifying the end of the summer. Much is written about the correct time to harvest and my advice is to wait until the berries are a deep, shiny purple, and dangle on the stem. If ripe, the slightest finger pressure will gather them easily into a harvesting bowl. There are several ways to extract the basic immune-boosting properties of the elderberry, and these can be further enhanced with the addition of appropriate herbs and spices, to create bespoke autumn tonics.

extract the constituents. Use the resulting liquid.

The mucilage content acts on inflammation and brings a soothing element to the mix.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) contains thymol, which acts as an antimicrobial expectorant, and an antispasmodic to help clear phlegm.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) both act as antimicrobial, diaphoretic and circulatory stimulants, to help flush out toxins and keep internal systems warmed and mobile.

Cardamon (Elettaria cardamomum) and Star Anise (Illicium verum) have been added for the additional warming effect, energy and flavour.

Elderberry Spice Syrup Ingredients ¼ cup Marshmallow root— soaked in cold filtered water over night 500g Elderberries 1tsp Thyme 1 Cinnamon stick 4 Cardamom pods Star Anise 5 Ginger slices 250g dark Muscovado sugar

As a base, Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) contains vitamins C, B6 and A and viburnic acid, which encourages perspiration and helps flush out toxins. In this recipe, the following are added: Marshmallow Root (Althaea officinalis, rad.). This should be infused in cold water overnight, to

Method Soak the Marshmallow root overnight and strain, reserving the liquid.

Place the berries, herbs and spices in a stainless steel pan and add the reserved Marshmallow liquid, topping up with filtered water to cover the berries and spices by about 1cm.

Bring to a boil and then simmer very gently for 20mins— a low temperature helps retain the beneficial constituents.

Press the resulting liquid through a fine strainer, squeeze and remove the marc.

Measure the volume of water, squeeze in a tbsp lemon.

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Notes From The Brew Room

Returning to a clean saucepan, add roughly ½ volume of liquid in grams of sugar (200-250g) and simmer for 15mins.

Decant whilst warm into warm, sterilized glass bottles and label.

For a honey based alternative, try the following oxymel. It’s an antiviral concentration bursting with vitamin C, antioxidants and anthocyanins: Perfect for the glut of allotment currants in the freezer!

‘Any Berry’ Oxymel Ingredients 100g Blackcurrants 100g Redcurrants 10g dried Thyme 1 tsp Cinnamon 1tsp Cardamom 250g Apple cider vinegar 275g honey 500ml sterilised glass container (with nonreactive lid, or using a parchment disc as a barrier) Method Place all Blackberries and spices into a glass jar and carefully mash a little with a pestle or fork.

Pour over the Apple cider vinegar, ensuring all the solids are covered and there is approximately 1cm clear space between the vinegar and the rim of the jar.

Keep the jar in a dark place for up to 4 weeks, shaking it every day and checking that the solids stay under the liquid.

Strain the contents through a fine mesh, or muslin, and add the honey.

Shake, and store in the fridge.

Photos: Ann King You can follow Ann on IG @annlovesherbs

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Plant Medicine and Social Justice

Why Herbalism and Social Justice Cannot Be Separated Grass Roots Remedies Co-op Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative is a small workers’ co-op based in Edinburgh, with the aim of making folk medicine— the medicine of the people —more accessible. Our co-op members come from a range of backgrounds including Medical Herbalism, herbology (two of us having studied the wonderful Diploma in Herbology programme with Catherine Conway-Payne at RBGE), ecology and permaculture, therapeutic gardening, social and environmental justice, and grassroots organising— a mix demonstrating that the threads of holistic healing and social justice activism are tightly woven into the same tapestry, and cannot be separated.

At the core of our work is our Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic, situated in the southwest of Edinburgh, in an area of multiple deprivation; an area that over the past few months has felt the effects of COVID-19 acutely.

Our clinic survives on suggested donations and outside funding, when we can find it, with a free education programme running out of a local community garden. Our aim is that local residents should be able to find one-to-one confidential appointments for medical herbal advice, and also come along to our workshops to connect with other like-minded residents, their local green spaces, and the herbs— both wild and cultivated —that grow there. We feel this connection to be a form of community empowerment: given a solid foundation, there is no limit.

At the onset of social distancing restrictions in March, our clinic closed for face-to-face consultations and our community workshops were put on hold, making things feel pretty bleak.

At this time, we were incredibly lucky to receive some funding to support the communities we work with, so set about making lots of herbal teas, syrups, creams and balms in the hope these would be helpful for folks during the stress of the pandemic. We teamed up with local crisis food provision services to distribute our free herbal remedies. Over the last few months, we have also been able to have a wee stall alongside these takeaway meals, allowing us to chat face-to-face with folk once again. The local people we already know have helped no end, by taking small batches of remedies to people that know them, but don’t know us—their connections helping to convince others to try this weird looking herbal stuff and see if it can be of support.

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Plant Medicine and Social Justice

Why do we so often accept that nice things are only for those that can afford it? How can we expect someone to pay for an ‘alternative’ health treatment at the expense of heating their home, or stocking their fridge? How is the widespread degradation of our environment any different from the degradation of our human society and how do we think we can stop one crisis without tackling the other? The biggest determinant of health in our society today is socio-economic status. We should not be persuaded to focus on how well we look after ourselves individually, by this modern world of ‘self-care’. What about community care? Divide and conquer: the more capitalism can individualize us, the more easily it can sell us things and the more distracted we become from what really matters. The more connected we are, the more we understand each other; the more we value diversity, instead of being scared of it, the more we can support one another.

GRR co-op are delighted to have been asked to write about herbalism and social justice in Herbology News. Over the months, we aim to bring different voices and perspectives to these pages, to inspire readers to think, discuss and to act.

To find out more about us, visit our website (www.grassrootsremedies.co.uk) to watch our wee film about community herbalism in Wester Hailes, or simply get in touch. www.grassrootsremedies.co.uk Facebook: Grass Roots Remedies Co-op hello@grassrootsremedies.co.uk Photos: Grass Roots Remedies Co-op

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Our Man in the Field

Foraging and Flavour David Hughes meets Rupert Waites Mere steps from the car, in the long, wet grass, my shoes began to breach and are, by now, sodden, my cotton trousers heavy with upward wicking water. Ahead of me, the forestry track along which I squelch, tuft to tuft, drops down into a boggy birch thicket; a most unattractive prospect as the weather, which has not been pleasant at any point in the day, begins to close in once again. Deciding my best course of action is to cut my losses and head home, I clamber the deeply cut bank to my right to shelter a short while in the pine plantation that covers the hill. As I approach, something in the gloomy fringes of the trees catches my eye. The childish giggle I evince is prompted by my proudest discovery to date: a cauliflower fungus, Sparrasis crispa, and an absolute belter at that! Picture perfect, ivory white, fresh as a daisy and— most importantly for an amateur mycologist as comically poor as myself —an easily identifiable edible.

I carefully extract my prize and, with much swearing, stumbling and a few close shaves across barbed wire fences, manage to return triumphantly to the van, the 1.5kg mushroom unmolested.

What to do with this treasure, though? Looking to get inventive and in need of advice, I ring up my good pal and forager/chef/flavour expert Rupert Waites, of Buck & Birch.

“They’re an arse to clean,” is his first response and, having now experienced the task first-hand, I have a tendency to agree.

You'll be crunching on a stray woodlouse or pine needle, for sure, if care is not taken to break it down and wash it thoroughly. Mrs Waites makes an excellent Tom Yum-style soup, where she simmers them a while. They pickle rather well, too.

This is why I ring Rupert for advice. If it can be foraged from a Scottish landscape, then he knows the best way to capture its essence.

The conversation turned elsewhere: “Where did you find it?” he enquired, casually, but I remained tight-lipped. “The Borders,” was my vague reply.

He laughed.

I think we all know I won’t be giving up the location of that spot so easily!

“You should come out here and see the new flavour library,” he suggested, before we exchanged regards and hung up.

The following day, intrigued by the offer, I venture out to the Buck & Birch development kitchen at Macmerry, in East Lothian, to catch up in person and talk foraging and flavours.

I’ve worked with Rupert closely, bottling his array of herbal liqueurs and helping prep the wonderful wild dining experiences he delivers, so I’m familiar with the many shades of culinary wonder that reside in his kitchen. I am not, however, quite prepared for the awe of standing in front of his most recent addition— a literal wall of flavours.

Boxes of dried herbs are stacked floor to ceiling.

Next to them, shelves filled with brown glass litre bottles containing all manner of tincture and decoction.

We have at our fingertips— dried, in tincture and in decoration —everything you might think of that can represent the flavours of Scotland. Barks, plants, flowers, even the seaweeds and peat that

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Our Man in the Field might represent the Scottish landscape.

It can be thought of in terms of a colour palette, to add texture and movement to our creations. Angelica root, yarrow, pine needles; they're all very evocative and we’re trying to capture them as a representation of contemporary Scottish flavour.

He holds a jar open for me to smell. It is labelled ‘Smoked Kelp’.

Just a splash, and you're evoking the sea, salt air and the smoke from cottages.

My knees weaken in agreement; the richness an indescribable umami for the nose.

Add a bit of sea wormwood, or the tansy you'd find by the beach, and you can practically hear the seagulls.

We drink tea, and while away the afternoon making comparisons between mixing flavours and music; the blending of top, middle and bottom to balance, or to highlight individual elements.

A strong bottom note of green hogweed seed can provide an intriguing backdrop to a more familiar dominant flavour such as orange peel. Lovage root will do the same thing.

I ask him to talk more about how he builds levels of flavour in his creations and he obliges: At the heart of it is telling the story of the landscapes. You could use oak bark, or cherry bark as a foundation. Very deep, woody, representative flavours. From here, you can build into the florals— tweaking with meadowsweet, elderflower, or rose petals. On top of that, you can season with the bitters, like wormwood or tansy. Mugwort would be an excellent choice, as it has wee notes of everything. Finally, you can highlight with sprinklings of pine needles, or smoke, in a final dusting to add texture, or to tickle the palate. Tell a story without need for urgency. Use basic flavours but make them enigmatic. Play with people's emotions and memory.

The chat is evocative and pastoral in nature.

Rupert cites his parents' copy of Richard Mabey's Food for Free as a defining influence in a

childhood spent roaming Arisaig and the Isle of Canna.

The idea that people flourished, surviving wild on seaweed and what could be foraged from the woods and ditches, was fascinating to me and, as an adult, exploring these environments for flavours became obsessive and bled into my work. Every available space in the household began to fill with bottles and every surface had something pickling, fermenting or drying on it.

The latter seems a common household scene among herbologists. I ask him for any advice that I could take away, to start building my own flavour library: Start with single plant tinctures and go from there. This is nothing new. [It’s] all work that's been done before, so there’s nothing to fear in experimenting. We are simply rediscovering the contents of the apothecary cabinet.

Wise words indeed.

Before I leave, I request any final nuggets of wisdom he might pass on to keen herbologists, out foraging in this abundant season.

Get comfortable foraging in all landscapes. It’s key if you want to represent them in your creations. All that time spent outside in bad weather, learning what’s out there, can pay dividends later if you remember that one plant that will act as a final lift. Always find new reasons to keep exploring— whether that's going to new places, never repeating menus, making new things, whatever it takes. That's the thing.

You'll never get bored with the world of plants. It's endless. And I only concentrate on the ones that are edible!

In the end, I eat the Sparrasis crispa the only way a newly discovered, edible mushroom should be eaten— fried hard in butter and olive oil, taking centre stage on a backdrop of sourdough toast.

It’s delicious.

Photos: David Hughes Location: Top Secret, obviously.

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Nota Bene

A Guide to Sustainable Foraging Adapted from: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

Seek permission

Do not collect rare species

Many sites do not allow foraging for commercial purposes, only for personal use.

Where sites are important for conservation, are habitats for rare or vulnerable species or where there are problems with over-picking, you should not forage even for small amounts of fungi or other species. These sites can be identified through signage, but please always check before setting off.

Only take plants and fungi when you are certain you know what they are.

Take a good field guide to confirm species in the field and avoid confusion. Some species are protected by law, so know what not to collect.

Ancient woods, in particular, can contain many rare species so take special care. If you're not sure, it's best to leave it alone.

Know what you're picking

Take no more than you plan to consume.

And take care not to trample down or damage areas you are collecting from. Uprooting plants is harmful so pick leaves or berries with care, in moderation and avoid damaging plant roots.

Never consume a wild plant or fungus unless you are absolutely certain of its identification.

It could be rare and protected, inedible or even deadly poisonous. Use reference books to identify them. Fungi can be notoriously difficult to identify, so if you're unsure it's best to leave alone.

Only collect from plentiful populations Only collect flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds where they are in abundance.

For fungi, only take mushrooms that have opened their caps (so are likely to have dropped their spores). Do not collect small ‘button’ mushrooms.

Leave plenty behind Wild food is vital for the survival of the UK’s wildlife.

Forage carefully to ensure there is enough left for birds and species to consume now and to ensure plants and fungi can regenerate and reproduce.

You may not be the only person foraging and plants and fungi need to produce seeds and spores to grow into the next generation.

Minimise damage

Wild plants and the law All wild plants are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

It is illegal to dig up or remove a plant (including algae, lichens and fungi) from the land on which it is growing without permission from the landowner or occupier. Some species are specially protected against picking, uprooting, damage and sale. A list of these can be found in Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

Further advice and information Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland Natural England – The Countryside Code Forestry Commission – New Forest Fungi Code Q and As British Mycological Society

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Nota Bene

The Scottish Wild Mushroom Code Scottish Natural Heritage Available at: www.nature.scot/plants-animals-andfungi/fungi The countryside is a working landscape. Please be aware of your own safety and follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/). In accordance with this code, there are some instances e.g. commercial harvest, where you must make contact with the land manager before you collect mushrooms.

By respecting the natural environment, you can help to manage and conserve the countryside.

When collecting mushrooms for any purpose, please consider the following points:

Where to collect





If you own or manage land 

What to collect 





Wildlife, especially insects, need mushrooms too, so only collect what you will use.

Some mushrooms are poisonous and others rare and should not be collected— only collect what you know and take a field guide with you to identify mushrooms where you find them.

Some species are vulnerable, so please consider whether there is an alternative species that is more common that might suit your purpose.

Before you collect mushrooms at a nature reserve, please always seek advice from the manager, as special conditions may apply.

Visit www.snh.gov.uk to find out more about protected areas in Scotland.

Mushrooms are a critical part of the natural cycle in grassland and woodlands; if these are compromised, all elements of the ecosystem will be affected.

Be aware that your management activities may affect mushrooms.

If you wish to run a foray or collect for scientific purposes, remember to: 



Ensure the safety of your party; make contact with the land manager in advance of your visit.

Give a record of what you have found to the land manager and explain the significance of your findings.

How to collect 





Allow mushrooms to release spores. Do not pick mushrooms until the cap has opened out and leave those that are past their best.

The main part of the mushroom is below the surface. Take care not to damage or trample it, and do not disturb its surroundings.

Scatter trimming discreetly in the same area that the mushrooms came from.

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23

The Messy Medic

Your immune system isn’t anything like a collection of soldiers. It is a collection of memories.

Khadija Meghrawi When we’re taught about the immune system at school, it is so often compared to a battlefield.

Your white blood cells are the soldiers, defending against the bacteria or virus invaders. These concepts often resonate more with people when they are turned into black and white violence. But your body is far more complicated, and far more wonderful.

It starts before you’re even born, as you grow in the warmth of the womb. You’re covered in a blanket of sorts, a layer of cells called epithelia, knit together with tight junctions that close the barriers to the outside world.

There’s a continuous flow of air throughout the body— your own in-built ventilator, developed millennia before the first light bulb was switched on. Mucus coats the insides of these airways like a balm; a sticky secretion where inhaled droplets become trapped. Finger-like tendrils of cilia then sweep these away to be coughed up— into a nearby tissue ideally or, perhaps more realistically, the back of your elbow.

But sometimes, things slip through.

Substances entering from outside the body are marked as foreign with an antigen. These are the ‘non-self’ to the ‘self’ of your body’s tissues. The main principle of your immune system is to defend against ‘non-self’ without ‘self’ being a target of destruction. Protecting your boundaries without destroying yourself.

There are two layers to the immune system; the innate, and the adaptive. Your rudimental but flawed generalised reaction, and the one that watches, waits, and then learns.

All body cells play a part in the innate immune system. When a harmful microorganism with an antigen— a pathogen —begins to attack them, they produce chemicals to alert neighbouring cells.

Distress signals, a cry for acknowledgement, of ‘I’m hurting, please help’.

You have many types of white blood cell ready to respond. Natural killer cells are as brutal as their name, destroying any substance marked with an antigen, releasing toxins to induce cell selfdestruction. Forcing death by one’s own hand.

How strange that we decided to name them this way, designating instant destruction as synonymous with nature.

The only protection the body’s own cells have against this blanket brutality is a specific marker of protection, a talisman. Some viruses manage to hijack this and hide it, though, and so the natural killer cells can end up attacking their own.

Another reason why this innate immune system cannot be relied upon long term— the adaptive response is soon needed.

Phagocytes are also involved in the first response, peppered with purple pellets ready to dissolve unfamiliar substances. They recognise the pathogen and start ingesting immediately, consuming them inside out. They then present

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The Messy Medic

the remains of the digested pathogen as complexes on their surfaces. Again, some might describe this as a soldier proudly displaying their spoils of war on their banners. But really, it’s more like a justification, evidence that there is a threat to explain this violence.

This phenomenon is known as MHC restriction, and it acts a safety mechanism to ensure your immune system isn’t being activated too easily. It is only when these complexes are presented that the next phase can kick in. This is because the innate immune system and inflammatory response can only hold off an infection for so long. Ultimately, a specific immune response needs to be activated: the adaptive immune system.

B cells and T cells are the agents, the artists. We measure T cell count to check how well the system is ticking over. If the workers are down, it means it’s failing, and you have an autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDs).

T helper cells bind to the complexes presented by the phagocytes, and this gesture of unity is the go-ahead for B cells to start producing antibodies. Antibodies are the tailor-made potions.

There are a potentially infinite number of antigens the immune system might encounter, and so it is crucial that the immune response is able to adapt and reflect a similar level of diversity. But it would be impossible to code every possible antibody required into our genes and still fit our DNA into such tiny spaces within

cells. Instead, B cells can manipulate tiny regions of their structure in billions of ways, to mould themselves into the right fit for each antigen.

This then allows them to personalise these antibodies, creating concoctions that destroy with intimate, intricate finesse. They neutralise the harmful toxins, stick to the surfaces of pathogens like flies, impairing their every action down to their ability to move. Then they poke the sleeping bear— the cytotoxic T cells. These are the most powerful cells of your immune system.

When immature, T cells undergo a rigorous education in the thymus gland before they are released into the bloodstream. Many are quick to stylise this as a military camp, but it is far more akin to intense therapy, essential for cytotoxic T cells because of their destructive nature. They are tested with a variety of ‘self’ antigens, and any T cells that start trying to attack them undergo negative selection and are destroyed. This essential mechanism prevents the immune system from reacting to the body and is known as immunological self-tolerance. Your body must learn to accept itself before it is ready.

The role of cytotoxic T cells in the immune response is to form the most specific and potent method of death for the pathogens. They make contact with the microorganism cell wall, fitting so perfectly together with them that harm cannot seem possible. But it is this deadly harmony that allows them to bore holes into their walls; they are serial killers with drills. Following this

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The Messy Medic

dismemberment, they release deadly toxins into the pathogen’s very insides, defragmenting their DNA, tearing apart every shred of their code.

Judge, jury, executioner.

Some types of pathogens— viruses —hijack your own cellular machinery to grow and infect, and yet the cytotoxic T cell can still destroy them without harming the ‘self’ of your body’s cells.

There is no chaos in this total annihilation.

Meanwhile, the environment in the body has also changed. The chemicals released by the innate immune system cells trigger a series of changes that you already know like the back of your hand when it comes to illness. The flush in your face, the sweat on your brow, is a science. It’s your blood vessels widening, making easier roads for your defences to stream down to where they are needed. The fever that burns your skin is a necessary measure too, your body purging itself.

You might catch yourself already reaching for metaphors to simplify this complex process.

Keep the foreigners out? Doesn’t sound too unfamiliar, especially in today’s climate.

But another key principle of your immune system is that it must accommodate for the presence of certain antigens. In some cases, an aggressive immune response simply serves no useful purpose— some pollen crossing into your lungs would hurt your body far more to attack than to tolerate.

In other cases, the presence of foreigners is crucial. The bacterial flora in your gut outcompetes otherwise infective species from growing there. Chemicals such as lactate are produced by bacteria in the vagina, creating an acidic environment that protects against many potentially damaging organisms.

Diversity is essential to survival. When your immune system goes into overdrive and starts to turn on those who are different, the whole body suffers, and becomes diseased.

Really, the closest comparison between your immune system and an army is that both often attack the innocent. Sometimes this means you react when you should not. Allergies, for example, are hypersensitivity reactions. Others are born with genetical defects that mean your body has forgotten itself, the lines between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ erased. These autoimmune conditions are the result of the code of your identity rewritten, the protective measures scribbled away at birth. All your immune system can see is that everyone is the enemy, including yourself. Defence turns into self-destruction.

Most of the time though, your immune system isn’t anything like a collection of soldiers. It is a collection of memories. A memory T cell and B cell exists for every killer version. Watching, memorising the lessons learnt. The scholars in the watchtowers, keeping a record of the antigens, the antibodies, the cytotoxic cells used. This is immunity. When the same pathogen attacks again, the team reunites, faster, with less need for the theatrics, the crudity, instead reusing the tried and tested methods. It can move beyond the innate immune response to the adaptive much more quickly. Destruction, but with the refined precision of familiarity.

Your body survives by believing in the inevitably of a next time.

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Jazz Ecology

Vegetal bebop Ramsey Affifi In normal times, the genes peppered across a plant’s DNA function more or less according to the common metaphors of popular science.

Here, they look very much like ‘instructions’ used to build the plant’s body and direct its behaviour.

But when a plant encounters an unexpected circumstance, things get wild. The instruction metaphor breaks down, and a new insight into the interconnected nature of genes, organism and environment is revealed.

I will zoom in on one wild phenomenon here, to make the point. Forty years ago, cracks in the genes-are-instructions metaphor had already appeared with the discovery of ‘alternative splicing’ (Berget et al, 1977). Alternative splicing occurs when a gene gets transcribed differently than ‘usual’. One way to think about what this means is to imagine a gene to be a paragraph of text. Under normal circumstances, the gene is expressed by pulling specific words and sentences from the paragraph and putting them together to be read. But in certain conditions, some of those words or sentences might be omitted, or others put in. In language, this amounts to a change in meaning. In genetics, this means changed physiology and behaviour.

Gene transcripts are shuttled away to get translated into long stringy molecules called proteins. Different parts of proteins push and pull at each other, and the strings often fold into complex but very specific shapes that then specify how the protein interacts. A dizzying array of different protein shapes enable and participate in an equally dizzying array of functions. If alternatively spliced transcripts are translated, these proteins —known as protein isoforms— have a different shape than their regular counterparts, and so can interact differently.

Some protein isoforms seem like well-established alternatives that can be pumped into action in the face of common disturbances, such as drought.

But not all alternative proteins are evolutionarily conserved ‘Plan Bs’ waiting idly in the toolkit (Mastrangelo et al. 2012). For better or worse, it appears the number and nature of protein isoforms is not prescribed. A door is opened for the creative role that chaos plays in plant life.

Some isoforms turn out to be nonfunctional. They are quickly degraded and their building blocks re-used. Others wreak havoc in the form of deformity and disease. Still others end up assisting the plant in new ways.

It turns out that alternative splicing in plant genes is especially prolific when a plant is encountering a novel stress. Why would a plant bother creating all these variants, with nonfunctional or unpredictable effects, at a time that requires urgent coordinated response? The answer turns out to be exquisitely Darwinian: in precarious times, it may be advantageous to produce a lot of new possible solutions to a danger. To do so, it adopts a randomization strategy. In risky times, it pays to take risks. Doing so, the plant increases the odds of an adaptive response. By generating variations of its gene products, the plant is increasing its repertoire, brainstorming without a brain.

This is roughly the same thing that happens in species at the population level in the process known as ‘natural selection’ (Darwin 1859): diversity in a population of organisms increases the likelihood that when given an environmental disturbance, at least some organisms of that species will survive long enough to pass on their genes. At the organism level, alternative splicing increases the chance that some behavioural response to a stress will be beneficial for the plant’s survival.

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Jazz Ecology So, plant genes are more likely to produce predictable proteins when living conditions are stable, but the plant quickly generates creative chaos out of its genes when it needs to. With this insight, what happens to the ‘instruction’ metaphor? It seems to me this: the plant regulates and deregulates its genes, streamlining their effects in some contexts, relaxing those constraints in others. When genes behave in a streamlined way, it looks like they are deterministically instructing the plant cells. But alternative splicing during stressful conditions shows that if such determinism sometimes exists, it is only because the plant is determining it. The instructor is the organism, shifting how it uses its cellular resources in response to its shifting environment. In some situations it relies on routine, in others on creativity.

Alternative splicing is common in all eukaryotes, not just plants. But because plants cannot escape threats by running, slithering or flying away, the capacity to generate novel possible solutions seems especially crucial to the way they make a living. Readers of this journal will know that the ‘secondary metabolism’ of a plant is the set of processes whereby plants generate those complex chemical orchestras that so define their unique contributions to ecology as much as to economy. Consider the deluge of alkaloids, polyphenols, and terpenes that plants bring into the world: it is these chemicals that are used to ward off pests and attract allies, but that are also concentrated into tinctures and suffuse our aromatherapies.

Notably, the secondary metabolism of plants seems highly susceptible to alternative splicing. For instance, 75% of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) genes associated with producing secondary metabolites undergo alternative splicing (Clark et al. 2019).

References Berget S.M., Moore C., Sharp, P.A. (1977).

‘Spliced segments at the 5' terminus of adenovirus 2 late mRNA’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 74(8), pp. 3171–5.

Clark, S., Yu, F., Gu, L., Min, X.J. (2019).

‘Expanding alternative splicing identification by integrating multiple sources of transcription data in tomato’. Frontiers in Plant Science 10, pp. 112.

Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species.

London: John Murray.

Mastrangelo, A.M., Marone, D., Laidò, G., De Leonardis, A.M., and De Vita, P. (2012) ‘Alternative splicing: enhancing ability to cope with stress via transcriptome plasticity.’ Plant Science 185-186, pp. 40-49.

Yeo, G., Holste, D., Kreiman, G. et al. (2004).

‘Variation in alternative splicing across human tissues.’ Genome Biology 5(10), pp.1-15

In humans, there are more genes getting alternatively spliced —and spliced in more different ways— in the brain than anywhere else in the body (Yeo et al 2004). Just as animals employ alternative splicing to increase the problem-solving versatility of their neurons, plants use it to improvise volatile variations on their favoured fragrant themes.

Welcome to jazz ecology.

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The Chemistry Column

Drawing the Mushroom

Magic

from

the

Dr. Audrey Cameron Recent research confirms that mushrooms present an unlimited source of pharmaceutical compounds with unique and potent properties.

Ganoderma is a genus of medicinal mushrooms which are usually non-edible, with coarse texture and therapeutic effects (Wasser 2005). Recently, Ganoderma lucidum has been recognised as one of the important medicinal mushrooms, consisting of highly bioactive secondary metabolites with an enormous variety of chemical structures (Gong et al, 2019). Nearly 700 different chemical compounds were discovered in this humble fungus!

So, what are metabolites? They are products of metabolism; chemical processes in the cells which produce energy. A secondary metabolite is not directly involved in those processes, but usually has an important ecological function. For example, fungi produce a huge variety of antibiotic secondary metabolites and pigmentary secondary metabolites, which give fungi their beautiful colours.

These bioactive chemical molecules can be extracted from Ganoderma lucidum’s fruit body, mycelium, or spores.

Polysaccharides

Steroids

Terpenoids

Phenols

Nucleotides

These molecules include a wide range of chemicals, mainly polysaccharides, steroids, terpenoids, phenols, nucleotides. Here are the general chemical formulae of these chemicals:

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The Chemistry Column Polysaccharides and triterpenoids are usually considered important compounds with beneficial properties in the treatment of a wide range diseases, but recent research has also recognised the importance of phenolic compounds (Yuen & Gohel, 2005; Ferreira et al., 2009).

Supercritical fluid extraction: A new method, using the latest ‘green’ extraction solvent Supercritical carbon dioxide facilitates extraction at lower temperatures, which means the chemical compounds are less easily affected by the process. Thus, the bioactivity of the chemicals is preserved.

The medicinal efficacy of all of these compounds depends hugely on the extraction and purification methods used (Gong et al., 2019).

The extraction conditions need to be optimised to extract each specific compound and retain its desired bioactive effects. Research is being carried out to find the optimum conditions for extracting different compounds from Ganoderma lucidum.

Fractional precipitation: Ion-exchange chromatography and ultrafiltration are commonly used for extracting polysaccharides.

The type of solvent has a significant influence on the extraction process, and the chemical composition of the extract. The solubility of different chemical compounds differs in different solvents. For example, methanol, ethanol, aqueous and a mixture of ethanol-water solvents are commonly used for extraction— but methanol is toxic, so is not suitable for extracts destined for human consumption.

Different extraction methods have been developed to improve the efficacy of extraction of different chemical compounds without affecting bioactivity. Here are some of the most common: Organic solvent extraction: This is a common and traditional extraction method, but is quite timeconsuming and requires large amounts of organic solvents, such as methanol and ethanol. Nor is it the most efficient method, yielding quite low levels of the chemical compounds.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction: An alternative to organic solvent extraction, with lower extraction times, lower solvent consumption and higher yields of chemical compounds.

There is an excellent chapter— ‘Chemistry of Components in Ganoderma’, by Gong, Yan, Jie Kang & Chen, 2019 —which lists the structural classifications and characteristics of each chemical compound found in Ganoderma, as well as the optimal separation methods for each chemical compound.

It has been fascinating to write this short article; learning about Ganoderma and its vast number of chemical components. Next time I see it in the woods, I will treat it with respect.

References Ferreira, I.C.F.R.; Barros, L. & Abreu, R.M.V. (2009) ‘Antioxidant in Wild Mushrooms’, in Current Medicinal Chemistry,16:1543–1560 Gong, T.; Yan, R.; Kang, J. & Chen, R. (2019) ‘Chemical Components of Ganoderma’, in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 1181:59-106 Wasser S. P. et al (2005) ‘Ganoderma lucidum’. In Coates P.M; Betz J.M; Blackman M.R; Grass G.M; Levine M; Moss J & White, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. New York: Marcel Dekker: 603–622 Yuen, J.W. & Gohel, M.D. (2005) ‘Anticancer effects of Ganoderma lucidum: a review of scientific evidence’, in Nutrition and Cancer, 53:11–17

Microwave-assisted extraction: This is a very quick extraction method, taking less than 5 minutes.

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Garden Gems weeks will create a plant feed rich in nitrogen, albeit somewhat smelly. A cupful of this liquid diluted in a watering can provides a great foliar feed for the development of healthy leaves.

In October….

Ruth Crighton-Ward One of the main differences between Horticulture and Herbology is the classification of ‘weeds’. Prior to studying Herbology, I would never have entertained the notion of deliberately cultivating Chickweed (Stellaria media) or Dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis). Herbology does not consider plants as weeds and tends not to be interested in cultivars (cultivated varieties).

Instead, Herbology favours plants in their original, most natural form. Many plants which have medicinal value carry a species name of officinalis or vulgaris, like Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis) or Thyme (Thymus vulgaris).

The definition of a weed is just a plant growing where it is not wanted, so a stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is often regarded as a nuisance. Its strong yellow roots can spread far, creating more nettles. In attempting to pull up one nettle, more nettles will be dislodged and pulled towards you.

This usually results in any exposed area of skin coming into contact with their stinging hairs. Yet there is so much more to this plant than that familiar, painful sting.

Medicinally, nettles have been used since ancient times. Tea made from the leaves is a gentle diuretic, helping to flush out kidneys and bladder, soothing urinary infections. As an edible plant it has a greater content of iron and other minerals than spinach does.

Urtica dioica is also an effective soil indicator; its presence shows loam-based soil, rich in humus and the flowers are a good source of pollen and nectar for butterflies. A few handfuls of nettle leaves covered with water then left for a few

Another ‘weed’ which serves a purpose, other than just to irritate gardeners, is Plantain. There are two types common to our gardens; Greater Plantain (Plantago major), and Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata). Both are used medicinally, although as a remedy for bites and stings the Greater Plantain is second to none and a valuable tool for the gardener. In one garden, I accidentally annoyed a bumblebee and, as a result, received an extremely painful sting. Whilst hopping around cursing, I recalled the Greater Plantain in the garden, grabbed a few leaves, chewed them for about ten seconds then applied the mush to the affected area. The relief was instantaneous, and the pain completely disappeared within seconds.

So, it’s sometimes good to leave a small patch of the garden uncultivated and see what ‘weeds’ appear and what they can be used for. You may be pleasantly surprised. The wildlife will also thank you for this.

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Garden Gems

By October, summer has departed for another year. However, this month can bring some gentle weather. The leaves are changing colour, but haven’t yet all fallen and this is the best time for foraging. As Keats observed two hundred years ago, this is the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. Autumn fruiting berries such as Bramble (Rubus fruticosa), Sloe (Prunus spinosa) and Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) are in plentiful supply, and there is an abundance of fungi.

Edible plants to be harvested in October include chives (Allium schoenprasum), apples (Malus domestica), carrots (Daucus carota), beetroot (Beta vulgaris), spinach (Spinacea oleracea), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) and autumn raspberries (Rubus idaeus). The bulbs of wild garlic (Alium ursinum) can be harvested at this time of year. Although not widely regarded as a plant for domestic gardens, it can make a great addition to a woodland or more shady section in a garden.

around £15, so division is a great way of saving money.

Finally, if plants are needing to be dug up and moved elsewhere in the garden (transplanted) then this month is a good time to do that. There are really two good times of year for transplanting, spring and autumn. Spring just before the new growth kicks in and autumn just as the growing season comes to an end. Plants shouldn’t be divided or moved in the middle of summer or winter when the temperatures are more extreme.

You might also want to make a little time to order / purchase garlic bulbs ready for planting. Next month we’ll look at the planting process for this wonder bulb and catch up on the gardening jobs that can be done later in the autumn and throughout November.

In the meantime, enjoy whatever time you get in the garden.

Now is also a good time to scatter seeds for germination in the spring. Plants such as Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) will happily be grown this way.

October is a good time of year to divide plants.

Growth has slowed or stopped in many herbaceous plants, yet the soil still retains a certain amount of heat and the frosts have not yet settled in. This moderate temperature minimises the shock plants will go through when divided.

Division is a great method of propagation, creating a completely new plant. If a plant has grown too big, this is a good way of reducing its size for the following year. Divide using a sharp spade, swiftly slicing through the crown of the plant. Some plants are better divided by prising apart using two garden forks. The divided plants should be put back in the ground as soon as possible and given a good watering.

The series of photos demonstrate the division of an Iris (Iris sibirica), from its initial to its finishing position. The plant is removed from the ground, divided by using two garden forks, then each plant is put into position and watered. Now we have two healthy plants. Buying an Iris of that size in a garden centre would probably set you back

Photos: Ruth Crighton-Ward

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The Globe Physic Garden Garden

Anarchy in the Stock Beds Marianne Hughes, GPG volunteer Since mid-March 2020, the Globe Physic Garden (GPG) volunteers have been unable to work in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Since the RBGE opened to visitors in early July, we have watched with some interest— and increasing frustration— as a variety of herbs make their takeover bids. We knew the St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) would self-seed everywhere, as we are always finding it in the Stock Beds and GPG in the best of times. Now the Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis), Chicory (Cichorium intybus) and Red Orach (Atriplex rosea) have joined the party. In the Stock Beds there is a similar free-forall, augmented by the Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) and Sheep’s Sorrel (Rumex acetosella).

While the winter will see some dying down of many plants, come Spring 2021 the seeds of all these plants will germinate and make a spectacular come-back. Let’s hope we can return before they do! However, the glory of the Echinacea (E. purpurea)— surviving the frosts earlier this year— has been wonderful to behold.

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The Physic Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse Garden

The Return of the Holyrood Physic Garden Sutherland Forsyth 2020 marks 350 years since Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour established a Physic Garden beside the Palace of Holyroodhouse, eventually giving rise to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This autumn sees the opening of a new incarnation of that original Palace garden.

The new Physic Garden takes its inspiration from several historic gardens at the Palace and is located, on what was an open grassed area behind the Abbey Strand buildings, by Queen Mary’s bathhouse. There is no entry fee, with the public able to wander among three different areas.

The first is inspired by the original 17th century Physic Garden, with raised beds containing

culinary herbs, native Scottish plants, varieties featured in the Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis of 1683, and more. With over 20 beds, planters, yew hedges and benches, this space is an accessible haven in a busy city.

The second area is located on what was once part of the old 16th century Privy Garden. Indeed, visitors can even see the remains of the old Privy Garden wall running up the middle of the new garden. Instead of the intricate parterre hedges, however, the same patterns have been recreated with bulbs and long grasses, providing winding paths to walk through.

Lastly, a medicinal meadow with a path running through its centre is inspired by the wilder monastic gardens once tended by the canons of Holyrood Abbey, where medicinal herbs were grown for use in healing.

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The Physic Garden at the Palace of Holyroodhouse Garden The new Physic Garden has been created by Royal Collection Trust— the charity that looks after the royal art collection on behalf of The Queen and for the benefit of the nation, and oversees the opening of the official residences of HM The Queen, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The project is part of Future Programme; a multimillion pound investment in improving the visitor experience at the Palace, which has included creating a new Welcome Centre, resurfacing the huge forecourt at the front of the Palace, re-displaying many paintings and works of art, and constructing a new Learning Centre in the Abbey Strand building at the entrance to Holyrood.

Ahead of the opening, a group of graduates and volunteers from the RBGE Diploma in Herbology, led by Catherine Conway-Payne came to help install many of the plant labels.

They also gathered the very first of the Physic Garden’s plants, ready for them to be dried and used later in the year. It was wonderful to finally see people not only enjoying the garden, but using it for its original purpose— as a place of learning, and a resource to enhance health and well-being.

The garden opens to the public this autumn and, as the plants have been selected to ensure year-round interest, there will be plenty to enjoy. As with every garden, as the years pass it will grow richer and fuller, but we are so pleased that in the 350th anniversary year of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, not only has its original Physic Garden been re-imagined and reincarnated, but the first people to collect its plants were herbologists who have been taught at or who work in the Botanics today. The garden has come full circle.

Photos: Sutherland Forsyth.

Further photos will be available following the official opening of the garden.

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Plantstuffs Garden

Solar Dyeing Elizabeth Oliver Dyeing fleece and yarn with foraged plants is a regular hobby for me, collecting from my garden and when walking the family dog. In fact, we call it ‘dog-walk-dyeing’ and I have knitted several sweaters and scarves in these muted hedgerow colours.

It was an odd summer this year, though, with restrictions on moving around and meeting people, whilst all the while the sun shone and nature flourished. Back in April, at the beginning of lockdown, I set up some solar dye pots, with dandelion flowers picked from two verges near my home.

Solar dyeing is a grand way to describe a couple of jam jars stuffed with dandelion flower heads and topped up with water, but the magic happens when the contents warm up in the sunshine day after day, and colour from the plant material transfers to the yarn or fleece.

The substrate in my jars was yarn spun from a local Jacob sheep, called Tulip. I love her fleece; it is lustrous and soft. Usually, I would mordant fleece or spun yarn with alum and cream of tartar, but on this occasion the yarn was scoured, but unmordanted.

The filled jars stood in a sunny corner of the garden, warming up and cooling down— and occasionally being moved because they were in the way. Eventually, when the water looked quite murky and I decided that the alchemy must already have happened, I emptied out the sweet, fruit-smelling contents.

I have to be honest, the results were not spectacular.

The flowers were picked from the same verges (behind my neighbours north facing wall). Had the plants altered their chemical makeup in the intervening seven days?

Now I’m trying again, this time with sunflower petals and some silk thread. Once again, I have chosen not to mordant. This time, the thread seems to have taken on some colour after only a couple of weeks…

Photos: Elizabeth Oliver

I had kept back one mini-skein of undyed yarn for comparison and can see that the first dyebath gave a clear yellowish colour, whereas those flowers picked just a week later had a warmer brownish tone. The water source was the same, and the position in the garden was the same.

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Of Plants and Places Garden

Flora in Scottish Gaelic Place-Names Jake King It hardly needs to be said that flora and fauna were of utmost importance to pre-industrial man.

Thus, it is unsurprising that almost all the flora abundant in the Scotland of old appear in placenames of Gaelic origin.

Muran or bent grass (Ammophila arenaria), so commonly found on sandy beaches in the Hebrides and West coast of Scotland, is found in the poetic name of South Uist—Tìr a’ Mhurain, ‘the land of the bent grass’. (Whilst the poetic name for North Uist is Tìr an Eòrna, ‘the land of the corn’.) Likewise, Àird a’ Mhurain on Barra translates as ‘the height of the bent grass’. On both Coll and Iona, we find Port a’ Mhurain, ‘the anchorage of the bent grass’. Elsewhere in Scotland, particularly in Wester Ross, the Gaelic for bent grass is mealbhan. Several places in that area are simply called Am Mealbhan, ‘the bentgrass’, denoting their sandy dunes.

Seaweed was, of course, important to Highland and Hebridean culture and this is reflected in place-names; not in the names of towns and villages so much as in smaller coastal features.

The edible Duileasg, or dulse, (Palmaria palmata) appears many times: Geò an Duilisg, ‘the creek of the dulse’, in Applecross; Eilean an Duilisg, ‘the island of the dulse’, off Colonsay; Sgeir an Duilisg, ‘the skerry of dulse’, off Berneray.

Feamainn is a general term for many sorts of seaweed, but is not seen so often in place-names.

Nonetheless, on Tiree we find Rathad na Feamainn, ‘the road of the seaweed’, used by the crofters in Gott, an inland village, to access the coast and bring the seaweed inland.

Craobh is the Gaelic word for tree. The Gaelic name of Crieff, in Perthshire, is Craoibh, meaning ‘tree place’. In all likelihood, a famous single tree once stood here. Indeed, a local man born in the late eighteenth century claims to remember the site of the then-felled tree stump. As with the nearby Fortingall Yew— the oldest tree in Britain —these ancient trees may have been important sites in the pagan past.

In Loch Lomond, there are two islands containing this element: Creinch, which in Gaelic is Chraoibhe-Innis, ‘tree island’; and Eilean na hAon-Chraoibhe, ‘the island of the one tree’. The latter serves to remind us of the danger of using place-names as a means of researching where certain flora used to grow. Sometimes the name of a plant or tree appears in part of a place-name precisely because it was rare in the area, not because it was abundant.

Juniper (Juniperus communis) is known in Gaelic as aiteann and is seen in several place-names, most famously in Speyside’s Tomatin. This name derives from An Tom Aiteann ‘the juniper hill’, and on an old map, circa 1591, it is described as Tomm-Ackenn, and Juniper moat. Moat or motte is the Scots word for a mound and seems to be a translation of the original Gaelic tom, meaning ‘hill’.

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Of Plants and Places Garden

Yew (Taxus baccata) are very common in the Highlands, and place-names reflect this. The Gaelic word is iùbhrach. Tomnahurich, a famous cemetery in Inverness, is Tom na h-Iùbhraich, ‘the hill of the yews’. Ury, near Stonehaven, possibly derives its name from An Iubhraidh, ‘the yew tree area.’ When visiting the Ury estate in 1867, one writer remarked: Numerous beeches of startling dimensions grace the lawn, and near where stood the old homestead an yew tree now in the strength of its power, reminds one that it might have enjoyed, probably did enjoy, youth contemporaneously with the ancient Laird of Ury. Clovers or shamrocks (Trifolia spp.) often appear as seamrag. (Indeed, the English word ‘shamrock’ comes from the Irish Gaelic seamróg). Thus, Achtemarack in Inverness-shire is, in Scottish Gaelic, Achadh an t-Seamraig, or ‘field of clovers’. Back in 1654, Glenchamber in Galloway was written as Gleyschambrach and probably contains the seamrag element, meaning ‘shamrock glen’.

Rye (Secale cereale) or seagal, appears in several names: Shewglie in Glenmoriston is Seagalaidh, ‘place of rye’; whilst Ashogle on the river Deveron is Àth Seagail, ‘rye ford’.

Raineach, the Gaelic word for fern or bracken (Pteridium spp.) appears, most famously, in the naming of the Rannoch region of Perthshire. It also appears as a common noun in various smaller place-names, such as An Camas Raineach, ‘the bracken bay’, in Ross-shire.

As one would expect, fraoch or heather (Calluna vulgaris) appears in many place-names. Am Fraoch-Eilean, ‘the heather isle’, can be found naming a few islands across Scotland, these are usually small heather-coated islands, not far from the mainland. We find one in Loch Lomond, as well as Loch Duich in Ross-shire, off Morar, and off Grimsay, and again in North Uist. Freuchie, in Fife, is also named from this element and would be called Fraochaidh in modern Gaelic.

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Herbal Histories

Plague and Pestilence, Past and Present

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Claire MacKay We have many reasons to be grateful for the evolution of germ theory and the resulting progress that has separated us from the conditions of the Dark Ages.

Whilst this scientific breakthrough led to a better quality of life for many, it would be a mistake to entirely disregard older practices as mere uninformed experiments.

Although our Scottish ancestors of the 17th and 18th centuries lacked an understanding of the pathogenic origins of disease, they were nonetheless painfully aware of the diseases we now know to be caused by microbes. The language used to describe commonplace diseases was, of course, vastly different from our own, but surviving records and medical manuscripts provide clear records of the microbial infections and, crucially, of skilfully developed plant medicine treatments. These records indicate an extensive pharmacopeia of plants used for complex treatments of diseases likely caused by microbes —such as tuberculosis, typhus, diphtheria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and pneumonia — which took a large toll on the early populations of the British Isles (Wagner et al, 2017).

Ancientbiotics So far, the lack of necessary scientific validation and supporting research has prevented modern medicine’s integration of traditional approaches for treating infections. However, antibiotic resistant infections and the emergence of ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA, have led to a recent interest in this area.

Promising research is underway, serving as a potential gateway to the rediscovery of the plant wisdom of our ancestors. For example, collaboration between scientists, ethnobotanists and historians at the Ancientbiotics Project at the University of Nottingham (2020), looks to the past to evaluate historic cures through modern methodology. Thus scientists, working alongside an Anglo-Saxon specialist, were able to develop a leading antimicrobial formula for the treatment

of MRSA, based on a recipe from the Leech Book of Bald, which dates back to the 10th century.

A similar experiment conducted by researchers on the Isle of Arran examined the anti-microbial potential of 83 plants listed in Celtic medical literature. Of the plants tested, around 80% showed anti-microbial properties, with 14 showing strong potential in treating modern infections. Garlic (Allium sativum) and Juniper (Juniperus communis) showed the greatest potential, echoing the ingredients of the AngloSaxon remedy, which contained three plants from the allium family, including Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) and Bulb Garlic (Allium sativum) (Wagner et al, 2020).

Potions for Plague and Pestilence If we could speak directly to our ancestors, and ask their advice on the ailments that concern us, what might their words of wisdom be, and how would these relate to our contemporary understanding of medicine?

One source that may provide some answers is an 18th century herbal notebook, held in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow.

It contains notes from a series of classes taken by a student who wishes, as a note on the first page tells us: to know what herbs is for every truble, pin and diseases which befal man The notebook contains a comprehensive series of questions and answers, covering most ailments and effective herbal remedies for each. For example, (Anon., C18th, p.5): Which herbs are for the plague or pestilence fevers or any other regions diseases? elder leaves, red briar leaves, red sage, rue, garlic, barberry leaves or inward bark, agrimony, ivy berries dried in a powder and taken in plantain water.

As a herbalist passionate about the use of native plant medicines, I note how every herb listed is native to Scotland and relatively easy to source locally, but what place do these herbs have in

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Herbal Histories today’s medicine cabinet, and is there any validation of their suggested use? Let’s take a closer look at a few of the herbs mentioned: Sage (Salvia officinalis) There’s a saying in Gaelic ‘Carson a gheibheadh duine bás. Aig an’ bheil sàiste fas’, which roughly translates as ‘Why should any man die who has sage in his garden?’ .Salvia officinalis has a long and varied history of traditional use in medicine.

The ‘officinalis’ tells us that it was one of the main herbal medicines held in the ‘office’ of the apothecary, an official herb. In recent years, it has been the subject of intensive studies. A 2017 study (Ghorbani & Esmaeilizadeh) updated the pharmacological actions of S. officinalis as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive (relieving the sensation of pain), antioxidant, antimicrobial, antimutagenic, antidementia, hypoglycaemic (reducing blood sugar levels), and hypolipidemic (reducing cholesterol levels).

Traditionally a herb that was used in treatment of fevers, sore throats and general signs of infection, it is easy to see why it was held in such high esteem by the Gaels (Darwin, 2008).

Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) All parts of this plant contain a bright yellow dye, especially noticeable in the inner bark. This bright yellow dye is berberine, which has been subject to clinical studies for its beneficial actions in diabetes and cardiovascular health. However, berberine is also a powerful antibiotic, and has been demonstrated in clinical studies to inhibit 96% of MRSA growth at relatively small doses. In combination with antibiotic treatment in infections, this plant-derived constituent has even demonstrated a synergistic effect in the antibiotic treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections (Yu et al, 2005). This is a promising discovery, suggesting the potential of plant medicines to reduce reliability on pharmaceutical antibiotics in the treatment of serious infections. In a bygone era, this powerful antibiotic plant medicine would have been an excellent remedy to have to hand.

Garlic (Allium sativum) The use of Garlic spans the breadth of time, as far back as the Babylonians. Past understandings of Garlic’s antimicrobial and antibiotic activities is clear from the therapeutic applications of the herb. The Copts recommended a Garlic cure on a fasting stomach to clear the intestines and head. Ear drops for a sore ear in Egypt consisted

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of goose grease and Garlic juice. Tutankhamun was buried with a bulb of Garlic, no doubt demonstrating how highly the plant was revered (Manniche, 2006). In Britain, the Gaels were fond of the wild variety ‘Creamh’, to help prevent food from spoiling (Beith,1995).

All members of the allium family contain sulphur compounds. Allium sativum has over 50 known organosulfate compounds. An enzyme released when the bulbs of garlic are crushed assists in the production of allicin, which has been clinically proven to be antibiotic, antimicrobial, and to lower cholesterol, reduce blood pressure and blood sugar. As the Ancientbiotics Project demonstrated (2020), a formula containing three members of the allium family has high potential for the inhibition of MRSA and the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections.

It is possible that the superstitious use of garlic to ward off evil spirits stems from an intuitive understanding that garlic could alleviate the causes of disease. Many ancient descriptions of the nature of illness, such as being ‘shot by elfarrows’ or ‘afflicted by evil spirits’, were ways of filling in gaps in understanding. That Highlanders believed Garlic would purify the blood does not negate the efficacy of the remedy (Beith,1995).

Elder leaves (Sambucus nigra) The abundant uses for the fruits of the elder tree are fairly common knowledge today. Elder is perhaps one of the most ubiquitous of herbal remedies, specifically used for colds and flu symptoms. However, the use of elder leaves remains mostly in the realm of tradition. Elder leaves are widely documented in Highland folk medicine as being used for treating wounds (especially ‘green wounds’) and burns. Typically, the leaves were combined with lard to make an ointment, often with other herbs added. In the 17th century, this ointment was known as Unguentum Sambuci viride and used for most bruises, wounds and external complaints, including piles. An oil known as Green Oil and used for the same purposes was made from green elder leaves and linseed oil (Grieve,1931).

Culpeper (1652-1653) records the 17th century usage of the fresh juice of elder leaves in treating sore eyes, suggesting perhaps an antiseptic action.

Interestingly, Black Elder (Sambucus Nigra L.) is one of the plants that has been closely examined

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Herbal Histories by researchers for its antiviral potential against SARS COV-2 (Fakhar et al, 2020). The whole plant seems to exhibit strong antiviral properties, although the exact mechanisms are not understood, and it seems the plant is also immunomodulatory (Porter, 2017).. Whilst research is still ongoing, and there is some caution around the potential of the berries to increase cytokine activity during a COVID-19 infection, contemporary studies appear to confirm Elder medicine is of value against viruses in general, in addition to its traditional antibiotic and vulnerary action.

In Sync with the Seasons Many of the cures of the past were born from the necessities of seasonal availability. New findings are revealing there is more to this simple approach of living in harmony with the seasons than first meets the eye. In 2015, a study which hoped to determine the most effective time of year to vaccinate looked at the expression of thousands of genes and how they differed through the seasons. The findings showed a correlation between the winter season and increased immune activity, also associated with increased inflammation markers. This would explain why people are more prone to colds and ‘flu during the winter months, when immune system reactivity is heightened, and also why rheumatic symptoms worsen at this time of year.

However, scientists noted a difference in results between Iceland and countries in the Southern and Northern hemispheres. They concluded that these differences in gene expression were most likely accounted for by changing light levels through the year. Iceland, of course, has markedly different light levels— with near to 24 hours of light in summer, and 24 hours of darkness in winter (Dopico et al, 2015).

Our ancestors didn’t know about changes in gene expression, but at the time of the autumn equinox, when the light begins to decline, Nature provides a bounty of hedgerow hips, haws, berries and fruits rich in anthocyanidins, antioxidants and vitamins to boost our immune defences. These would certainly have featured heavily in the diet of our forefathers, and this simple and intuitive way of living in harmony with the seasons helped our ancestors to remain in the best possible health through the centuries.

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Research into the antiviral potential of the anthocyanidins found in berries such as blackcurrants, bilberries, raspberries, hawthorn berries, sloes, cranberries, plums and apple skin discovered that anthocyanidins bind to many of the receptors of common viruses. They not only prevent viruses from entering cells, but prevent infected cells from replicating the virus, thereby demonstrating potential for preventing viral infections and limiting both the course of infection and the duration of symptoms (Sampangi-Ramaiah et al, 2020). This proved to be the case for influenza A & B, common cold viruses, herpes zoster and simplex, and also HIV. Anthocyanidins from several fruits have also been shown to have an inhibiting effect on Coronavirus, by attaching to two protease sites necessary for SARS Cov2 to infect cells. The findings suggest a diet rich in fruits containing anthocyanidins may help prevent infection, or reduce severity of infection by many seasonal viruses, including perhaps COVID-19.

References Anon (C18th)18th Century Book of Herbal Remedies, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, online archive: https://heritage.rcpsg.ac.uk/items/show/187 Beith, M. (1995) Healing Threads: Traditional Medicines of The Highlands and Islands, Polygon: Edinburgh Culpeper, N. (1652-1653/1987) The English Physician, Meyerbooks: online Darwin, T. (2008) The Scots Herbal; The Plant Lore of Scotland, Birlinn: Edinburgh Dopico, X.C.; Evangelou, M.; Ferreira, R.C.; Guo, H., Pekalski; M.L., Smyth; D.J., Cooper, N.; Burren, O.S.; Fulford, A.J.; Hennig, B.J.; Prentice, A.M.; Ziegler, A.-G.; Bonifacio, E.,; Wallace, C. & Todd, J.A. (2015) ‘Widespread seasonal gene expression reveals annual differences in human immunity and physiology’, in Nature Communications, Vol. 6, 7000 Fakhar, Z.; Faramarzi, B.; Pacifico, S. & Faramarzi, S. (2020) ‘Anthocyanin derivatives as potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease: An insilico perspective of therapeutic targets against COVID-19 pandemic’, in Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, Vol 0, pp:1–13 Ghorbani, A. & Esmaeilizadeh, M. (2017) ‘Pharmacological Properties of Salvia officinalis

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Herbal Histories and Its Components’, in Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Vol 7:4, pp.433440 Grieve, M. (1931) A Modern Herbal, Jonathan Cape: London Manniche, L. (2006) An Egyptian Herbal, British Museum Press: London Porter, R.S. (2017) ‘A Review of the Antiviral Properties of Black Elder (Sambucus Nigra L.) Products’, in Phytotherapy Research, Vol 31:4, Sampangi-Ramaiah, H.; Vishwakarma, R.; & Uma Shaanker, R. (2020) ‘Molecular Docking Analysis of Selected Natural Products from Plants for Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease’, in Current Science, Vol.118:7, pp. 1087-1092 University of Nottingham (2020) ‘AncientBiotics — Medieval Medicine Conquers MRSA Superbug’, online article: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/impact/c asestudies/ancientbiotics.aspx, accessed 22.09.20 Wagner, C.S.; De Gezelle, J; et al (2017) ‘Antibacterial Activity of medicinal Plants from The Physicians of Myddvai, a 14th Century Welsh Medical Manuscript’, in Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol 203:6, pp.171-181 Wagner, C; De Gezelle, J.; & Komarnytsky, S. (2020) ‘Celtic Provenance in Traditional Herbal Medicine of Medieval Wales and Classical Antiquity’, I Frontiers in Pharmacology, Vol 28:11, p.105 Yu, H-H.; Kim, K.-J; Cha, J-D; Kim H-K; Lee Y-E; Choi, N-Y & You, Y-O (2005) ‘Antimicrobial Activity of Berberine Alone and in Combination with Ampicillin or Oxacillin Against MethicillinResistant Staphylococcus Aureus’, in Journal of Medicinal Food, Vol 8:4, pp.454-61

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Fairies and the Fifth Kingdom

Foraging Through Folklore Garden

Ella Leith Oh, I never saw fairies but I had a certain belief in fairies, and what gave me this belief in fairies— have you ever seen a fairy ring?

It’s the most perfect thing.

Round, round with the little paddock steels and the one in the centre’s for the fiddler. And you see these in certain places.

I’ve seen them at the ben and the— and other places. And it’s a perfect ring, a circle. It’s a strange thing.

[And it’s for a dance, is that it?]

It’s where they dance, this is the track they leave and the tiny wee paddock steels and this one, a bigger one in the centre of the ring, this is for the fiddler.

That was the belief.

[Who’s the fiddler supposed to be?]

Remember the d— oh, it wouldha been the Deil!

Helen Galloway, 1972 These are the words of Helen Galloway (19031987), from Port Logan, Wigtownshire. Helen was being interviewed by her nephew, folklorist John MacQueen, and spoke of the rings of toadstools (puddock or paddock steels in Scots) left behind in places where the fairies go dancing. It’s the most perfect thing, she says, but also a strange thing, and something a little bit dangerous— after all, the fiddler might just be the Devil.

Certainly, it is something uncanny. This sense of unease may be attributable only to the appearance of a circle: stone circles and perfectly round hillocks are also often associated with fairies, and if you join a ring of dancing fairies you might never be able to step out again. But I think it’s the fungus as well. There’s something strange and a little bit dangerous about fungus.

The association of fungi with fairies is often seen as a particularly Irish or Gaelic folk belief. Asked whether fairy rings got their name because of the dances of the fairies, Helen’s sister Grace responds dismissively, “Not at all, nothing like that, no— we werena Heilan [Highland] or Irish!”

However, there has long been a link in the popular imagination between toadstools, mushrooms, all manner of fungi, and the supernatural. Frank Dugan’s article ‘Fungi, folkways and fairy tales’ provides an accessible overview of how various fungal forms have appeared, incidentally or integrally, in literature, folklore and folk practices across Europe. He contrasts the traditions of Northern and Western Europe, where fungi tend to be associated with witches, malign supernatural creatures, and ‘lower’ animals like toads, snails and snakes, with the Eastern European tendency to celebrate fungus and associate it with magical powers and sexual prowess. In both cases, however, anything fungal is almost invariably linked to something arcane. Even in strongly pro-mushroom cultures they retain an ‘atmosphere of mystery and taboo’ (Toporov 1985, quoted by Dugan 2008).

Perhaps this ambivalence reflects our discomfort with the unknowable. Mycologists aside, most of us would probably struggle to put our finger on exactly what a mushroom is. It seems to sit somewhere between categories: it is not quite a plant, but not quite not a plant— not an animal, either (despite the folklorists’ classification of the Russian ‘The War of the Mushrooms’ as an Animal Tale), but fungi are ‘more closely related to animals’ than plants, according to mycologist Bryce Kendrick. Fungi are also organisms of extremes: some mushrooms are edible (and delicious) and even healing; others (often termed ‘toadstools’) are deadly poisonous— and it is not always easy to differentiate between the two. As well as potentially causing death, fungi feed on it, sprouting from decaying wood and foliage. They are both intrinsically earthy and somewhat unearthly— and some even have the hallucinogenic power to help you cross the threshold into another world.

Only since 1969, when Robert Whittaker proposed that fungi belong in a class entirely their own, have they been recognised as belonging to a distinct biological kingdom: the fifth kingdom, a territory apart from the kingdoms

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of animals, plants, bacteria and protozoa. As Dugan observes, the word ‘kingdom’ is resonant, ‘captur[ing], for the non-phylogenetic mind, something of the vastness and magic of life forms’.

And every kingdom needs a king. According to Irish tradition, the Elf King lives under a mushroom; and I remember being told a folktale called ‘The King of the Mushrooms’ as a child. In this story, the eponymous character is a tiny man with three gift-giving daughters, who is found under a mushroom and captured by a cruel king. Beyond the character’s name and place of origin, however, mushrooms don’t feature in the narrative at all: for freeing the King of the Mushrooms, a disinherited prince is rewarded with dinner with his daughters, each of whom presents a gift which helps him to defeat a series of princess-eating dragons. The mushroom may feature merely as a vehicle for referencing the man’s magically small stature, but to me it feels like more: a shorthand that alludes to something strange, something ordinary yet extraordinary, something bound to the supernatural and which, if you treat it well, may reward you with bounty.

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References Dugan, F. (2008) ‘Fungi, folkways and fairy tales: mushrooms and mildews in stories, remedies and rituals, from Oberon to the Internet’, North American Fungi, 3(7), pp. 23-72 Kendrick, B. (1998-2020) Mycologue Publications.

Available at: http://www.mycolog.com/fungus.html Interview quotations are from the Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches website, the online portal for selected items held in the School of Scottish Studies Sound Archive at the University of Edinburgh: Helen Galloway: http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/295 44 Grace MacQueen: http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/311 59

Coming back to Helen Galloway and the fairy rings, there seems to me to be something ineffable that links fairies, fungi and us folk. Our fairy beliefs are typically tied to our localities: a particular hill, a particular mound, a known stone circle, a ring of mushrooms discovered in a nearby field. We recognise these features as something unco and strange within the familiar: places where fairies have their own practices in our midst. This is a reminder that our places may be shared by many, even by those beyond our ken. We can cautiously co-habit, but only by respecting their otherness. Respect the power of the fairies, or you might be dancing for hundreds of years— or worse. Respect the power of fungi, or you might find yourself in another, hallucinogenic world— or worse. Our places are overlaid with different and only somewhat knowable kingdoms: the kingdom of the mushrooms, for sure, but maybe also the kingdom of the fairies.

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Botanica Fabula Garden

Lingzhi, Middle Daughter of the Emperor Yan Amanda Edmiston As a professional herbal storyteller (yes, I did grow my own job!) it's easy to become intrigued by the plants used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (T.C.M.). Each herb, fungus, bark and vegetable has a legend, which accompanies the notes on constituents and clinical application that many Western herbal practitioners find more familiar.

The legends retell the discovery stories, the origins of the plant’s common use and the trials of the people who chanced upon the plant’s specific healing properties. These legends give those of us familiar with the energetics of plant healing subtle insights into the plant’s ability to alter outlook and emotions, to make new connections in ways not immediately obvious in plant-lore and legends from other traditions.

stones to where we're at today; when medical usage is no longer dictated by the fae, but by research papers and empirical studies. These are the plant legends that have inspired writers and poets, offering metaphors for virtues and behaviours. Typically in ancient Chinese poetry, Lingzhi— the plant I'm looking at this month— is associated with the virtues of sanctity and goodness, which by ingesting we may embody.

But, alongside these fascinating texts that easily connect to clinical practice, there are plants which have another layer of story. Legends with mycelia of enchantment, communicating nuance to those open to the whispers of knowledge that entwine through tales often dismissed after childhood.

Tales of immortal beings, transformation and magic, the workings of gods, mountains, rivers and life. These deeper, often older, stories feed into the tales of discovery, acting as stepping

In the version I was told, the eldest daughter of the Flame Emperor Yan took the form of a mulberry tree, the youngest that of a bird, but the middle daughter, Yao Ji— who was said to be very clever, beautiful and have a kind and caring heart— tragically died young and was buried on the sun-kissed slopes of Mount Wu, at a place where the river arced. As she gracefully transformed, her soul took the form of Lingzhi, the Spiritual Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum).

Her love for people and the kindness of her heart were so strong that the mushroom became able to gift immortality.

One of the ancient Chinese creation myths, which I first met when I was storytelling in Shanghai in 2018, is The Three Daughters of Emperor Yan. I was immediately excited by this story of the transformation of three young women from their human form into timeless beings, taking extraordinary abilities into the mortal world.

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In further stories, the reputation of this life-giving mushroom attracted the attention of Lady White Snake. In her own legends, Lady White Snake undertakes an epic journey to a Taoist temple on a mountain, seeking out the Lingzhi in order to bring her beloved husband back to life after he had died of shock upon discovering she was not entirely human, but a snake in disguise.

This is no simple fungus, this is the stuff of incredible fairy tales. We should heed them, and turn to... …another medical legend, that I feel really leads on from the ancient stories and poetic works, and again connects the ability of Lingzhi or Reishi (the Japanese name we have adopted in the UK) to tone shen or spirit, and again takes us to a Taoist temple…

An ambitious man initially chooses to become a Taoist monk, having repeatedly failed his Civil Service entrance exams. After a year of dedicated monastic life, however, he is so shocked by his thin form and poor health that he returns to city life, wisely investing and fast becoming the successful owner of a construction company. But, unsurprisingly, his health does not recover. In fact, he grows more and more unwell and he starts to seek new reflections on his illness.

One day, engrossed in self-analysis as he watches his workers dig foundations for a new apartment block, he sees them pull a huge, soft, fleshy form from the ground and, pondering the implications for himself of this hand-shaped mass, he decides to take it to a fortune teller to see if they can shed any light on its mysterious meaning.

Unfortunately for the ambitious man, the fortune teller predicts disaster. The man turns pale and starts to shake, asking for advice: how can he prevent the disaster? After some consideration, he is advised that he may be able to turn the disaster into good fortune, if he dares to eat the curious, fleshy object. The poor man is horrified into silence.

As that evening wears on, however, he becomes more and more aware of how vulnerable he feels so, deciding to be brave, he cooks the shiny, ruddy lump for his dinner.

As the meal moves in his mouth, he heartens. Far from being inedible, the food is delicious and

Botanica Fabula Garden

slowly a sense of strength surges through his body.

As the days pass, the feelings grow. His grey hair develops renewed colour and lustre, his skin looks bright and he starts to regain his lost weight. Even his friends comment on how much younger he looks.

One day, a Taoist monk is passing the site where the man is working and remarks on how well he now looks, asking if he may take his pulse. The monk sits, feeling the blood flow in the man's veins, then asks if he has eaten something that looks like a big human hand. So, the man tells the monk the whole story. When the tale is told, the monk says, Sir, you ate the herb known as the spiritual vegetable meat and now you no longer belong in this mundane world.

Join me in the temple on the mountain.

Become a monk and enjoy immortality on the earth.

The man took his advice and, this time, stayed in the temple for good.

Now, I don't always advise doing what traditional stories, legends, snippets of folklore and fairytales tell you. Well, at least not without a little reflection first. But in the case of Lingzhi or Reishi, I will make an exception. As I've been sharing some of its stories in this column, I have been gently simmering a little of the slice I was given in Shanghai— in a pot, with some thyme, celery, garlic and tamari. So now I will sip at the broth and hope that, if it will not allow me to live forever, at least its stories will live on…

Bibliography Lu, Henry C. (1999) Chinese Natural Cures, Black Dog, New York Lin, Zhibin & Yang, Baoxue, eds. (2019) Ganoderma and Health: Biology, Chemistry and Industry, Springer Nature, Vol 1, Nov Su, Chen (2017) Three Daughters of Emperor Yan, CIP

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StAnza Presents…

Garden

Jenny Elliott Mushrooms Cellular mavericks, they come from their own kingdom, taste of umami. * Mycelium marvel forms pinhead primordium; it devours dead trees. * Delicate tissue of interwoven hyphae, white buttons push through. * Scales on a cap, ruptured universal veil; karma chameleon. * Pearl-like kokeshi, their little lost daughters make rings in the dew. * Devil’s fruit portals; ancient underground partners, for better or worse. * This pine owes its life to a mycorrizal connection, its fungal nurse-maid. * Fungophobia.

Cap, stem, spore-producing gills — guilty, not guilty.

Jenny Elliott, the poet, lives on a farm near St. Andrews in Fife, where she keeps Shetland sheep and runs The Shed Press; a small press, producing mainly handmade poetry pamphlets and cards. In 2016, one of these pamphlets, Makkin-wires, won The Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. Her poems have also appeared in various magazines and anthologies and her collaborations with other artists have resulted in a number of exhibitions and publications. She has also worked as a free-range egg farmer, an environmental chemist, a flower preserver, a hospital teacher and a teacher of sensoryimpaired teenagers. She currently plans to restock The Shed with new products including plant-dyed woolly goods.

Susan Wilson, artist and printmaker, was born in Dalry, Galloway and now lives in Fife. Her work is mainly in etching and reveals her interest in landscape, its surface patterns, its geology and fossil record. Inspiration also comes from plant life and her etchings of vegetables illustrate One Old Onion and other poems by the poet Jenny Elliott. This is her third such collaboration, her first being with Bill Duncan with whom she produced The Hirta Portfolio about the history, culture and evacuation of St Kilda; the second working with Colin Herd on an artist’s book entitled blots for ‘The Written Image’, a joint project between Edinburgh Printmakers and the Scottish Poetry Library.

StAnza brings poetry to audiences and enables encounters with poetry through events and projects in Scotland and beyond, especially their annual spring festival in St Andrews. www.stanzapoetry.org Facebook: stanzapoetry Instagram: @stanzapoetry

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Book Club Garden

The Overstory (Powers, Richard; Vintage, 2019.

Available on audiobook, to save trees!)

Reviewer: Richie McBride Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel leaves you imbued with the wisdom, healing, and mindfulness of trees as well as offering a skilfully guided tour of the complexities of human relationships; our loves, hopes, fears, and determination.

All set within, above, beneath, and under a complex web of trees, this book demonstrates the importance of healthy forests to the future of our planet.

You will get to know trees: trees that struggle against endless human onslaught; trees that invoke joy, interest, duty, fascination and spark an artistic mission persisting through generations of one family; trees that couch lovers, inspire protection and ultimately cause imprisonment and death; trees that educate, elevate, reincarnate, inducing awe and determination; trees of no consequence, unknown and ignored, until curiosity and passion lead to a surrogate child and the decades-long conquest of massive emotional and physical disruption; trees that offer life to a stranded soul, create and dash hope, inspire radical action, but also invite imprisonment and betrayal; trees trapped in a virtual system, vital actors in a game-based world sustained by a million keyboards.

designer; an intellectual property lawyer; a court stenographer; and a (literally) born-again tree campaigner who is guided by the voices of ‘the old ones’.

Does it tell of hope? Yes, in places. All but one of the central human characters become activists.

All emphasise the critical importance of forests, the web of life they represent and how the planet’s destiny depends upon them. They are all cyphers. Powers uses their struggles as metaphors for the struggle to save our planet.

Their emotions, thoughts, actions and words frame our view and force us to look with and through trees to the real state of our world.

“It’s so simple,” one character observes, “So obvious. Exponential growth inside a finite system leads to collapse. But people don’t see it.”

The Overstory almost reads itself. The compelling characters engaged me with their passion, humanity and dedication.

Powers has previously written on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, nuclear power, and neuroscience. In this, his twelfth novel, he delivers a book that is beautiful and uplifting, as well as challenging and darkly optimistic— for the planet, that is, the jury is still out on humankind!

Not quite as nourishing as a spot of Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), this is nonetheless a seriously entertaining and thought-provoking treat for those who ponder our place in Earth’s natural web. Herbologists will fill their boots!

The spectre of human influence hangs over every line of this wonderful novel. Inviting comparison with other recent writings— Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees (HarperCollins, 2017); Suzanne Simard’s work on forest ecology and the cooperative nature of the mycosphere —Powers’ book lays out the environmental, legal, political, economic, and ecological facts and arguments around what humans are doing to this planet.

Whilst trees are centre stage, their influence on our lives is manifest through a cast of nine main characters: a forest scientist; a Vietnam veteran and tree planter; a psychology professor; a ceramics engineer; an artist; a computer game

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Book Club

Into the Forest: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness

Garden

(Li, Qing; Penguin, 2019)

Reviewer: Nathalie Moriarty Whether you simply want an introduction, or already believe that nature connection has been a part of the human story since the beginning of our species, this book is for you.

Into the Forest delves into the benefits of spending time in a forest environment, particularly through the practice of forest bathing; Shinrin-Yoku in Japanese. The book describes the emerging science of forest medicine— the study of the health benefits of trees. The progressive research carried out by its author is clearly explained; from analysing participants’ mood and blood pressure right through to detailed chemical analysis of tree phytonicides and soil microbes and their effect on our health, particularly on the immune system.

The author, an immunologist, is one of the founders of the Japanese Society for Forest Medicine, inaugurated as far back as 1982, when Dr. Li began his life-long research into the health benefits of trees. “Our health and the health of the forest go hand in hand,” he writes.

The book adopts a popular science style and easily captures the reader's interest. After a thorough introduction to the background science, Li details the practice of forest bathing and offers practical steps to engage our senses.

Meditative and grounding practices are covered, as well as steps we can take to bring the forest indoors and into our lives.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, particularly for the way it broke down cutting edge science in easy-to-read language, and for the beautiful photography and layout. My only critique would be that the photography is stock footage, rather than original images made with the book in mind.

I find the physical feel of a book important; the cover has a soft, recycled feel and the page thickness makes it easy to handle and leaf through, so it is possible to use it as a reference book. I love having a copy in which I can place labels for those sections I want to reach quickly.

As someone who works with people in the outdoors, I found this book had easy-to-use exercises that serve a group setting, such as deep breathing or ‘grounding in’.

I rate this book 9/10 and recommend it if you are interested in finding out about forest bathing from its original source. I bought the paperback, priced at just under £10. If you’re as taken with it as I was, then you may also want to read Florence Williams, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative (W.W. Norton, 2019) and Clemens Arvay, The Biophilia Effect: The Healing Bond Between Humans and Nature (Sounds True, 2018).

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Book Club

Murder Most Florid: Inside the Mind of a Forensic Botanist

Garden

(Spencer, Mark; Quadrille, 2019)

Reviewer: Kyra Pollitt Family lore has it that, on hearing a siren, my great aunt Edie would lift her skirts and chase off after it, sparks flying from her clogs. Ostensibly rushing to offer help, it was widely suspected that she was merely feeding an insatiable fascination with the morbid. I may have inherited the gene.

I’m a huge fan of Scandi-noir, most kinds of detective fiction and confess to scanning the news for curious incidents of criminality.

So Dr. Mark Spencer’s account of his work as a forensic botanist leapt out from a list of book titles. Promising chapters like ‘The Case of the Scabby Ankle’, who could resist?

Spencer was working as curator of the British and Irish herbarium at the Natural History Museum when the call came. The book charts his journey from initially helping the police assess how long a badly decomposed body had lain in brambles, to the realisation that botany has much to offer the science of forensics, to exploring the strengths and limitations of this new practice, and the frustrations of persuading swarthy, hardened SOCIs* of its worth.

The reader gets a clear sense of the emerging practice of forensic botany; the grim corporeality of decomposition, the drudge of long hours in the cold and rain painstakingly studying unglamourous ditches, the challenges and joys of working in impromptu teams, the battle to educate, the relief of finding a supportive colleague.

As a good botanist, Spencer details many of the plants that fall under his hand lens, giving their Latin binomials, discussing their behaviours, and listing the traits that render them useful to crimefighting. This is very satisfying. We feel his despair when he is called to a crime scene, only to find “the police have cut down most of the vegetation and raked it into piles” (p.3).

Less satisfying, though understandable, is his inability to discuss many of the cases in any depth. Neither is Spencer a natural raconteur— no David Sedaris of the plant world —but he does have something interesting to tell. One suspects a slightly nervous publisher, unsure where this book’s market might lie. Quadrille might have a little more faith in the subject matter, and also invest in a more thorough edit and proof. In my hardback copy (retailing at £16.99) page 130— the climax of how mushroom spores were crucial in resolving a rape case— is missing in its entirety: The fungal spores from the woodland were particularly distinctive and strongly supported the proposition that both the victim and the suspect had been in woodland. On being presented We’ll never know how the rapist responded.

Frustrating, isn’t it?

Spencer’s next book, and I hope there is one, should benefit from a greater depth of experience in the field, more adept navigation of the strictures of police confidentiality, clearer intent in writing style, and confidence in its market. We are out here, and we do like this.

*Scene of Crime Investigation

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Preview Duncan Ross offers a snippet from his latest booklet ‘Herbs of the Southern Hemisphere’, available from www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk.

This extract has not been edited by Herbology News.

PLANT MIMICRY………………

We already know a fair amount about the interrelationships that can occur between plants in many ways. There are several that act not only as close companions to help enhance each other’s growth opportunities, whilst others deter predators and diseases from each other and their neighbours. Some species help by creating a symbiotic relationship with a particular soil, others have sophisticated beneficial arrangements with pollinators from the insect world.

However on a garden scale we do not yet know much about how intelligent plants are and in what way they respond to their own gardens and other situations.

To give one example, some “weeds” or unwanted plants have the ability to cleverly masquerade themselves amongst other plants that are being cultivated, in an attempt to avoid being handweeded by organic gardeners.

This may seem bizarre to the non gardener but through personal observation of over four decades does often occur and should be noted.

This mimicking can be seen in our garden with several species and is regularly repeated from season to season.

These “unwanted “plants usually hide themselves at the seedling stage, a critical time for the plants development. It is a clever biological manifestation that can go unnoticed even by experienced gardeners. It can be more easily seen and has been better researched for the animal kingdom, and is usually there to avoid predation.

There has been some valuable research by a Russian scientist called Nikolai Vavilov in 1924 on agricultural crops. His work identified the crop, then its plant mimic and finally the farmer attempting its control. The advantageous and intelligent plant evolved to combat the last stage and has been doing so ever since humans cultivated crops from the neolithic.

On a garden scale we can get actively involved….

First the garden trialGarden would need to organic or biodynamic, something quite alien in modern conventional horticulture who depend on herbicides that systematically obliterate unwanted plants.

Second, it takes several years for a garden to become “settled” enough in its natural rythmns for the effect to be noticed.

Third, the gardeners need to be to be introduced to mimicry and become aware of the plant interactions that can occur.

Fourth, records should be kept detailing the observations with independent second opinions.

The garden should also be well maintained, free from rampant weeds so that a careful evaluation can take place.

Fifth, why not take a long look at your own gardens and see what may be emerging? It may help you to weed more carefully and thoughtfully. It could become more of an observational therapy with the potential to be closer to the “secret” side of your natural organic garden.

In addition some of these apparently unwanted plants can be of benefit in a personal herbal context, so once identified can be left to grow on to maturity.

This can bring us onto another subject of…. personal herb plant manifestation, which will be discussed in our next booklet.

Seeking Reviewers Garden

Are you reading something you would recommend to others?

We’re always interested in reviews of books to share with fellow herbal folk.

Please simply send us a review, or get in touch: herbologynews@gmail.com

Do you have a book you’d like to submit for potential review?

Post to: The Editor Herbology News Glen House, 3 Reinigeadal, Isle of Harris.

HS3 3BD

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The Herbologist’s Diary

ADVERTISE HERE We’d like to offer a space to advertise products and paid events and for a ridiculously small fee. The funds raised would help us upgrade to a cleaner version of this platform without the imposed side adverts, and with additional useful features.

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Contributors Ramsey Affifi is Lecturer in Science (Biology) Education and Environmental Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. http://ramseyaffifi.org

Soraya Bishop’s background is in Ecology and Conservation, community gardening and grassroots organising.

She enjoys joining these many dots together into the web of community herbalism. She is a core member of Grassroots Remedies Co-Operative and is also part of the Scottish Radical Herbalism Network. hello@grassrootsremedies.co.uk

Hazel Brady’s background is in IT, but she has always loved plants and since retiring has expanded her knowledge, especially around herbs.

She completed the Diploma in Herbology at RBGE under Catherine ConwayPayne. Retirement has also given her the opportunity to develop another of her interests —an artistic practice centred in drawing and painting.

Dr Audrey Cameron, a polymer chemist, is now a Teaching Fellow in Science Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport. She teaches on the PGDE Secondary Education (Chemistry) and PGDE Primary Education (Science) courses.

Ruth Crighton-Ward has had a long interest in plants and nature, although her first career was in Stage Management. After 18 years working in a variety of Scottish theatres, she decided to go into gardening. She took her RHS Level 2 in Horticulture, as well as a Certificate in Practical Horticulture at RBGE. In 2014 she started her own gardening business, which has proved successful. In 2018, alongside her full- time work as a gardener, she returned to the RBGE for a Diploma in Herbology. back to contents

56 Amanda Edmiston was raised in stories; her mother is a professional storyteller, her dad was a toymaker, her grandfather a sculptor, her gran a repository of traditional remedies and folklore.

After studying law, then herbal medicine, Amanda began to blend facts, folklore, traditional tales, history and herbal remedies into unique works. Based in rural Stirlingshire, you can follow her on Facebook, @HerbalStorytell, and find more of her works at www.botanicafabula.co.uk

Contributors

Sutherland Forsyth is the Learning Curator at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He has worked in public engagement in a range of heritage, educational and environmental organisations, including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Historic Royal Palaces, and the Auckland Project.

David Hughes is an organic gardener, fruit and veg enthusiast, plant nutritionist, terpine whisperer, seed collector, green librarian and half decent in the kitchen. Most often found disturbing the peace in the woods of East Lothian, or more occasionally wandering in unimproved pastures looking quizzically at things, David looks to explore landscapes, people and their relationships with the plants that surround them by examining the esoteric sides of herbology through conversation, experience and silly wee stories.

Marianne Hughes began following her interest in complementary medicine after a career in Social Work Education and voluntary work in Fair Trade.

Starting with Reflexology & Reiki, she progressed into Herbal Medicine. The evening classes at the RBGE got her hooked and she completed the Certificate in Herbology and, more recently, the Diploma in Herbology. Her current interests and joy is experimenting with herb growing in her own garden, in a local park and alongside other volunteers in the RBGE Physic Garden. marianne@commonfuture.co.uk back to contents

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Contributors Dr Jake King works as a toponymic researcher for Ainmean-Ă€ite na h-Alba, the organisation responsible for providing authoritative forms of Gaelic place-names for use in things such as publications and bilingual signage. He is the author of a number of articles about place-names, as well as the author of the Scottish Natural Heritage `Gaelic in the Landscape' series. www.ainmean-aite.scot

Dr. Ella Leith is an ethnologist and folklorist who studied in Scotland and now lives in Malta. She particularly loves folktales and the storytelling traditions of linguistic and cultural minorities. @leithyface Claire MacKay qualified as a Medical Herbalist in 2011 from Edinburgh Napier University. She lives in the Scottish Highlands, where her clinic and apothecary are based, and is passionate about the traditional native use of medicinal plants in Scotland. She was consultant herbalist to the Outlander TV series and regularly appears in the media as a specialist on the traditional use of medicinal plants in Scotland.

Richie McBride is passionate about nature and the living world. Previously a fire station commander, he retired to study as a tree surgeon and tree surveyor. He currently lives and works on a smallholding in North Wales, growing fruit and veg, milling trees for craftspeople, and making cider.

Khadija Meghrawi is a medical student who believes that a doctor's job isn't just to heal the diseases of bodily systems, but to also heal those in the systems around us. She is Chair of her University’s BME network and co-led the formation of the BAME Medical Students Group, to increase racial representation in the curriculum at Bristol Medical School. Previously the President of Students for Global Health Bristol, she now advocates nationally for refugee and other minority patient group representation at the British Medical Association (BMA). back to contents

58 Nathalie Moriarty is an Accredited Practitioner with the Institute for Outdoor Learning and a graduate of the RBGE Diploma in Herbology. She works full-time for Scottish Forestry co-ordinating the ‘Branching Out - Positive Mental Health through Nature’ programme. She is passionate about working with nature to help people lead happier and healthier lives.

Contributors

Maddy Mould is an illustrator from Lancashire, living in the Scottish Borders.

Her work is heavily influenced by her interests in nature, folklore & history. She likes to illuminate the magic of everyday things, through both art, and a little bit of kitchen witchery. @maddymould

Joseph Nolan practices Herbal Medicine in Edinburgh, at the UK’s oldest herbal clinic, and specialises in men’s health and paediatrics. He is a member of the Association of Foragers, and teaches classes and workshops related to herbal medicine making, wild plants, foraging, and natural health. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram @herbalmedicineman, and on his website: www.herbalmedicineman.com

Kyra Pollitt is a graduate of the Diploma in Herbology at the RBGE. When not editing Herbology News, she works as a translator, interpreter, writer and artist. She lives on the Isle of Harris, where she is busily planning and growing a garden. www.actsoftranslation.com

Duncan Ross is the founder of Poytnzfield Herb Nursery, growing over 400 species/ varieties with an emphasis on Scots native and medicinal plants from all over the world. He is passionate about helping people lead healthier lives through growing and using herbs. www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk

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Announcing

Announcing….

The Grand Herbology News Winter Raffle Let’s show the world how creative you wonderful herbologists really are!

We’re looking for offers of herbal goodies and services as prizes in our fundraising raffle.

Tickets will go on sale in our next issue.

Beautifully illustrated to print at home, they’ll make the perfect stocking filler.

Prizes will be announced in our December issue (i.e. just after Christmas)

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Looking Forward

In the next issue of Herbology News...

10//20: The Sharp Issue     

All our usual columnists Plus a new column on Anthroposophy/Biodynamics from Dora Wagner Plus a new column on Nature Healing from Nathalie Moriarty Plus Artist of the Month: Kenris MacLeod Plus your Book Reviews

And more….

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