Abstract
MORE than usual interest will be shown this season in the English harvests of vegetable drugs, and it is now possible to judge from reports by herb farmers on the prospects of their crops what the harvests are likely to be, provided weather conditions for collection are favourable. Fair supplies are promised of those old-fashioned medicines such as hyssop, rue, wormwood, comfrey, balm and dill, but the same cannot be said of chamomile, the prospects of which are disappointing, an outlook that is all the more unfortunate since it is impossible to obtain supplies from Belgium. Indeed, it would seem that those who have pinned their faith, in the past, to chamomile tea will have to try one of the more modern remedies which are not so scarce. What is still more unfortunate is that on some herb farms the severe frost last winter destroyed the main belladonna plantations so that very little leaf—which is so badly wanted because of the absence of imports of the Continental plant-could be collected this season. It is satisfactory to know that the young belladonna plants of this year's sowing are looking well.
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This Season's English Herbs. Nature 146, 193 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146193b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146193b0