Primarily concerning their culture and uses: historical, culinary, and medicinal
Definition: "applies to plants which the leaves, or stems and leaves, are used for food or medicine, or in some way for their scent or flavour" (Oxford English Dictionary)

Contents

• Basic Information/Reference Materials
• Useful Databases
• Websites and Organizations/Online Resources
• Books
• Journals
• Tips/Hints

Bown, Deni. New encyclopedia of herbs & their uses. London; New York : DK Pub., 2001.
This encyclopedia is a complete resource for beginning research on herbs. It covers their history, herbs in the wild, usage of herbs (culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic), and growing and designing an herb garden. The last and main part of the book consists of entries arranged alphabetically by genus. Each genus provides information detailing distribution, folklore, research, name derivations, and horticulture. Individual plant entries contain a brief description of species and variants; hardiness ratings; information on the parts of the plant used; properties; and medicinal, culinary, and economic uses.

Simon, James E., Alena F. Chadwick, and Lyle E. Craker. Herbs: an indexed bibliography, 1971-1980: the scientific literature on selected herbs, and aromatic and medicinal plants of the Temperate Zone. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1984.
This book offers a thorough guide to scientific literature on herbs and aromatic and medicinal plants. It examines literature on the major commercially significant herbs and is divided into three sections: the herbs, subject classifications, and other references. The first part lists the herbs in alphabetical order with a description and a list of references that can be found in part two. The second part contains the bibliography arranged by subject classification in which each entry is placed into one of sixty-three subject areas. This book is the not for the beginner but is a valuable tool for finding scientific literature on a specific herb.

McVicar, Jekka. New book of herbs. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
A great introductory book on herbs. It covers numerous recipes for using herbs in the kitchen and in the home. Chapters include information on growing and using herbs in the home. The last section of the book is a catalog of 100 herbs describing their propagation, maintenance, and harvesting as well as suggestions for culinary, medicinal, and household uses. The catalog features detailed photographs for easy identification, and information of where to find additional information within the other sections of the book. The final section of the book lists other references, such as bibliographies, reports, conferences, symposia, and general references.

Biggs, Matthew. Vegetables, herbs & fruit: an illustrated encyclopedia. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2006.
This book covers more than herbs but contains an outstanding herb section, covering over two hundred pages. Arranged alphabetically by scientific name, each herb includes an introduction with origins and history; the most useful and recommended varieties; details of cultivation; propagation; growing under glass or in containers; a maintenance calendar, pruning and training (if needed); dealing with pests and diseases; companion planting; harvesting and storing; information and ideas for medicinal and cosmetic uses (e.g. recipes); if the plant is in any way toxic or harmful; and if the plant is of particular ornamental or wildlife value. The book also has a yearly gardening calendar, glossary, further readings, and seed source. It is a very thorough and useful book for finding information on specific herbs, especially pertaining to gardening.

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AGRICOLA
AGRICOLA describes publications and resources encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines." AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) is a machine-readable database of bibliographic records created by the National Agricultural Library and its cooperators. Production of these records in electronic form began in 1970, but the database covers materials dating from the 16th century to the present. The records describe publications and resources encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines, including plant and animal sciences, forestry, entomology, soil and water resources, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, agricultural products, alternative farming practices, and food and nutrition. Auxiliary subjects that support NAL's Information Center activities, such as agricultural trade and marketing, rural information, and animal welfare, are also included. AGRICOLA does not contain "full-text of the materials themselves." (Source: agency website.)

BIOSIS Previews
BIOSIS Previews is a comprehensive biological sciences product that is available via the ISI Web of Science® platform. Updated weekly, it combines the content from Biological Abstracts® and Biological Abstracts/RRM® (Reports, Reviews, and Meetings) with the speed, flexibility, and easy navigation of the ISI Web of Science. BIOSIS Previews provides approximately 13 million records from nearly 5,000 life sciences journals and non-journal literature, including conferences, meetings, symposia, review articles, U.S. patents, books, book chapters, and software reviews." (Source: vendor website)

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Mrs. Grieve's Herbal
The hyper-text version of A Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, by Mrs. M. Grieve, contains medicinal, culinary, cosmetic and economic properties, cultivation and folk-lore of herbs. It covers a plant and herb index of more than 800 varieties of herbs and plants, an index of recipes for 29 plants, and an index of poisons for 44 plants. The website also contains an index of over 1,000 natural and organic products that may now be ordered on-line as well as links to liquid, metric, and soil volume conversion tables. These indexes give information that is very detailed with hand-drawn illustrations and, overall, provide a genuinely useful resource.

Herb Society of America
This website provides detailed information on herbs. The information resource section consists of a definition of an herb, herbal profiles and guides, herb of the year, the Society library catalog, Herb Society publications, promising plants, and a registry of speeches. The herbal profiles and guides section features Herb Society of America guides to popular herbs and The Beginner's Herb Garden while the library has resource lists on popular topics and directory of herb related web resources and offers nearly 3,000 volumes of writings about herbs and related topics. The publications section includes a list and ordering information for Herb Society of America publications. In the promising plants section, there are profiles and images of new, underused, or little-known herbs.

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Historical:

Arber, Agnes Robertson. Herbals: their origin and evolution: a chapter in the history of botany, 1470-1670. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986, c1938.
This is a classic book on the history of herbs that looks at the botanical and artistic aspects of herbs in Europe from 1470 to 1670. Chapters contain the early history of botany, earliest printed herbals, early history of the herbal in England, botanical renaissance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, evolution of the art of plant description, evolution of plant classification, evolution of the art of botanical illustration, and the doctrine of signatures and astrological botany. It also takes into account a list of standard botanical works from the era. This is a comprehensive compilation of the earlier history of botany and an invaluable resource for anyone doing research in the history of herbs.

Anderson, Frank J. An illustrated history of the herbals. New York: Columbia University Press, c1997.
This book offers a useful overview of many herbals. Each chapter is dedicated to a different herbal. Chapters consist of pictures from the herbals themselves and information on each book, the authors, the book's place among other herbals, and other material of special significance. It is a valuable guide for choosing herbals that will be beneficial in the search for information on the history of herbs.

Blunt, Wilfrid and Sandra Raphael. The illustrated herbal. Revised Ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994.
This book presents an extensive overview of many different herbals in existence. A great place to start, it contains a history of herbals examining the manuscript, woodcut, and metal-engraved herbals. Each section includes descriptions and pictures of herbals that will aid the researcher in discovering the history of herbs and herbals.

Culinary:

Hanson, Beth (ed.). Gourmet herbs: classic and unusual herbs for your garden and your table. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, c2001.
This book features sections on growing herbs for every occasion, herbs and spices around the world, designing a herb garden, growing herbs in a container, starting herbs from seeds, preserving herbs, an encyclopedia of gourmet herbs, a USDA hardiness zone map, seed and plant sources, and where to go for more information. The main section of this book is the encyclopedia of gourmet herbs, arranged alphabetically by common name. Each entry lists the scientific name, a picture of one species of the plant, the hardiness zone, how to grow, and culinary uses.

Stobart, Tom. Herbs, spices, and flavorings. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1982.
This book goes beyond herbs to all kinds of flavorings but can be very useful when looking into herbs used in the kitchen. The book contains a history of flavorings; the importance of flavorings; scientific basis of flavorings; scientific, popular, and foreign names; synthetic and harmful flavorings; flavorings in practice; growing herbs; and a list of herbs, species, and flavorings organized alphabetically.

Medicinal:

Lucas, Richard. Nature's medicines: the folklore, romance, and value of herbal remedies. West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Pub. Co. [1966]
This is a useful book for exploring the history of herbal medicines. It features a detailed history of herbs and explanations of how they were used by different cultures. Each chapter examines a different culture. Several herbs are looked at extensively in different chapters; they include garlic, papaya, lemons, licorice, and alfalfa.

Duke, James A. The green pharmacy: new discoveries in herbal remedies for common diseases and conditions from the world's foremost authority on healing herbs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press; [New York, N.Y.]: Distributed in the book trade by St. Martin's Press, c1997.
This is a valuable resource for researching herbal remedies. Many of the common diseases and conditions are listed in alphabetical order. Under each disease or condition, possible green plants (herbs) that may help are described. This book offers only brief descriptions of use for each plant without any basic information about the herb, or identification characteristics.

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• American Horticulturist
• Economic Botany
• Garden [New York, Garden Society]
• The Garden [London, Royal Horticultural Society]
• Horticulture
• Organic Gardening (OG)

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The resources listed above give a broad overview of herbs There are many more books, journals, online resources, and other materials available about more specialized subjects within this topic. Ways to access these resources include (but are not limited to):

Browse the Couch Biology Library—Botany Section physically or online through the following call numbers:

• QK9 - QK15: Herbals
• QK98.4 - QK99: Useful Plants
• R126 - R489: Medical Botany (historical)
• RS81 - RS173: Medical Botany; pharmacognosy
• RV - RZ: Naturopathy
• SB305: Culinary uses
• SB351 .H5: Culture
• TX406: Spices

To find more specific titles, search the online catalog for books and journals. Library of Congress Subject Headings related to botanical illustrations include:

• Botany, Economic
• Botany, Medical
• Cookery
• Herb Gardening
• Herbs
• Materia Medica
• Medical Plants
• Medicine, Botanic
• Spices

If you have more specific questions about this topic, there are many people available to help you on the UNC campus. Contact:

• Couch Biology Library
• Davis Reference Desk

Produced by Kari Kozak.