I still remember the first time I reached for white willow bark. My head was pounding, I was trying to stay away from over-the-counter pain relievers, and I felt stuck. I had read that white willow is ...
Every now and then during one of my walks, someone will tell me that they have a headache. I peel off two slivers of bark from a willow tree, that ubiquitous plant of the streams, and hand it to them.
Salicylates are natural chemicals made by plants. They are found in fruits and vegetables and help protect plants against disease and insects. Medicinally, salicylate acid derivatives like salicin ...
From a seasonal cold to a stomach bug, nobody likes catching a virus — and epidemics can be devastating. We need safe, sustainable antiviral options to treat the outbreaks of the future. Scientists in ...
An interesting plant in both look and texture is the Scarlet Curls corkscrew willow (Salix x ‘Scarcuzam’). This willow can grow as a tree, with one or multiple trunks, or as a multi-stemmed shrub. All ...
Most people tend to overlook tree bark as rather uninteresting, at best. It's too bad, because bark is a fascinating and often attractive plant "invention," and is actually rather complex in its ...
The natural world has proven a generous source of drugs for the human race, and the latest scientific discovery in this area takes this concept right back to its roots. After giving the world aspirin ...