Over 3,000 plants grow in the 16 kilometre long and some 360 metre deep Sićevo gorge, east of the southern Serbian city of Niš. The rugged and beautiful landscape of the Svrljig mountains is an ideal habitat for sage, otherwise a Mediterranean plant, which is a wild, autochthonous species here. Aware of its value, the […]
Scent Seductress
When we think of lavender, probably the first thing that comes to mind are the wide purple fields of Provence. But the story of this fragrant plant begins much earlier, and much further afield, in the lands of ancient Egyptians, Arabs and Hindus, over two and a half millennia ago. They were the first to […]
Balm for the Senses
Everyone knows that the English are crazy about tea and that the most beloved and famous brand is Earl Gray. It is named after Charles Gray, an aristocrat and British Prime Minister between1830 and 1834, famous for numerous reforms, one of which brought a ban on slavery in the British Empire. And what makes Earl […]
Therapeutic Scent of the Mediterranean
In ancient Greece, students used to wear rosemary wreaths on the head to improve memory and young women used to give it to their boyfriends who were going to war lest they should forget them. Once upon a time, a rosemary bush in the garden in front of the house symbolised the domination by woman, […]
For Healthy Skin and Cheerful Spirit
When Sir Abraham Hume, an English floriculturist and member of parliament, brought mandarin samples from China to England in 1805, Europe immediately fell in love with the fragrant fruit. Immediately afterwards, mandarin arrived in Malta, then in the south of Italy, from where it spread to the Mediterranean, where it is still grown in abundance. […]
Magic of Evening Primrose
It opens its flower when everyone goes to sleep. Evening primrose, as its name suggests, is a nocturnal plant. Its nectar attracts moths that pollinate it. Before dawn, the pollinated flowers wither, and by the next evening, new ones sprout. This beautiful plant originates from North America, and was brought to Europe as an ornamental […]
Treasure Trove of Vitamin E
It is widely used as food and as of late there have been heated debates about its usefulness or harmfulness. What is certain is that it has been in use since the time when humans as a species began to make great strides towards progress. We owe a lot to wheat today. When wheat germinates, […]
Cleavage Enhancing Plant
Medicinal herbs usually have a wide range of effects, but probably the most versatile among them is fenugreek. Also known as the Greek seed, trigonella foenum-graecum, it has been used since prehistoric times in the Mediterranean belt and Asia in the household, industry, cuisine and medicine, and even in the process of mummification by the ancient […]
Aspirin’s Forerunner
In springtime, willow is the first to come into bud, children are symbolically beaten with its twigs to help them grow and prosper, on St. George’s Day, girls weave its twigs through their hair to make it lush, while women tread into water and release its wreaths to flow down rivers and streams. Willow has […]
Small-Flowered Plant – Solution for Big Problems
The prostate is a small yet very important organ of the male reproductive system. The basic function of this gland is to create a fluid that protects and nourishes the sperm. It is located under the bladder and around it passes the urethra, the duct by which urine is conveyed out of the body from […]