Single Herb Teas

Chamomile German

Chamomile Matricaria recutia (Compositae)

Habitat and appearance: It is an annual, growing to 60cm, with erect stems, much branched with very feathery leaves. The flower heads are typically compositae (daisy-like), having white florets and yellow disc florets forming the centre ‘button’. The whole plant is highly aromatic.

Garden suitability: A very important garden plant as it provides good ground cover and if kept cropped can provide a carpeting effect, which when walked on releases its fragrance; ideal between stonework and gravel. However, the common chamomile, anthemis nobilis, is best for a lawn effect. It enjoys light, sandy sols but will grow on most.

Cinnamon

Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Lauraceae)

Habitat and appearance: It is an evergreen reaching 7-10m, with a thick, pale, smooth bark and many-branched. The young shoots are greeny-orange while the leaves are petiolate and leathery when mature. The flowers are small, white and hang in panicles which then produce fruit. The whole plant smells spicy. Commercial cinnamon comes from the dried inner bark of the shoots, called ‘sticks’, and also from the bark, which is superior.

Garden suitability: This cannot be grown in our climate, but it can be seen in various botanical gardens.

Elderflower

Sambucus nigra (Caprifoliaceae)

Habitat and appearance: A shrub of small tree, 10m tall. The white-cream flower heads appear mid-summer and are wide and flat, made up of numerous little flowers. They cover the bush and in autumn produce purple fruits a little like redcurrants – equally as edible. The leaves are dull green, broad and veined with a strange smell.

Garden suitability: A lovely garden plant especially as a flowering, fruiting hedge which will grow tall and thick very quickly, particularly with a little pruning. Easily propagated by suckers or cuttings, enjoying any soil but loving nitrogen-rich ones.

Ginger

Zingiber officinale (Zingiberaceae)

Habitat and appearance: Common throughout the Far East, it is native to southeast Asia, particularly China, and is now grown commercially in most tropical countries.

The familiar ginger root is, in fact, its tuberous rhizome formed on this creeping perennial plant. It has an erect reed-like stem which appears every spring, bearing narrow laneolate leaves that die down in the autumn. It has a flowering stalk, also rising directly from the root, from which a whitish-yellow, slightly fragrant bloom grows.

Garden suitability: Not climatically suitable for our gardens.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus sabdariffa (Malvaceae)

Habitat and appearance: The basis of Jamaica tea, a plant native to Asia. There are many hibiscus, but this is the most popular for tisane purposes. It is an annual, reaching 2m, forming a branching, broad, bushy growth. Its stems are slightly shiny and reddish, while the leaves are ovate and undivided with small three-lobed stem leaves. The flowers are beautiful and solitary, consisting of red calyx and yellow corolla, each on a leaf axil.

Garden suitability: This can be grown from seed, but it must have a tropical environment to survive.

Lime

(Linden tree) Tilia cordata (Tiliaceae)

Habitat and appearance: As a European native it is very ancient as a ‘tea-making’ tree using its blossom. It is a deciduous tree, occasionally a shrub, reaching 2-40m high, and its trunk is straight and powerful. The leaves are orbicular and serrate while the tea blossom is yellowish-white in mostly pendulous cymes of five to ten flowers, which appear from mid to late summer. In the autumn, globose fruits are produced, each having two helicopter-wing-like leaflets to help flight for propagation purposes.

Garden suitability: This makes a lovely garden tree but it does need quite a lot of space and its height would shade a small garden. It enjoys sandy or stony soils; interestingly it is often used as a street tree, even with its offensive, dripping, sticky secretions in spring, caused by a burrowing bug. For this reason also it is best planted well away from the house, patio or car!

Marigold

Calendula officinalis (Compositae)

Habitat and appearance: A native to south Europe, it grows very occasionally wild in this country, but more normally in gardens for its pretty flower, thriving in most soils. Only the common deep orange variety is medicinal. It has pale green leaves and golden-orange flowers, which appear from late spring well into autumn, being killed by the first frosts. Such a familiar flower to everyone hardly needs a better description.

Marjoram (Wild)

Origanum vulgare (Labiatae)

Habitat and appearance: There are quite a few species of marjoram and all are medicinally beneficial. Common throughout Europe, this one used to flourish wild in this country but is now cultivated and rarely seen in the wild. It is a bushy, aromatic, slightly hair perennial, born on a horizontal root stock. It has small, petiolate, pointed, broadly ovate leaves, occasionally toothed, appearing opposite and decussate up the stem. The flowers are rose-purple, sometimes pinky-white, born on bracteoles (purplish), ending in short spikes or clusters (corymbose) in late summer.

Garden suitability: It makes a lovely garden plant and is easily propagated by cuttings or by root division of a clump during spring or autumn.

Meadowsweet

Filipendula ulmaria (Rosaceae)

Habitat and appearance: As a native to Asia and Europe it will be a familiar sight to country dwellers in Britain, lining river and stream banks. It is an attractive perennial herb, 70-125cm, with strong, aromatic root stock and erect reddish stems. It has alternate, acute, ovate leaves which are irregularly pinnate with two to five pairs of leaflets. These are tomentose (furred) on the underside and whitish-green on top. From the main stem arises glabrous stems, producing irregular paniculate cymes which bear sweet smelling flowers. These are small and very dainty, being creamy-white and five petalled with numerous long stamens. It has two flowering sessions, mid-summer and autumn, the two often running into each other.

Garden suitability: It must have wet and moist conditions. It does very well with moisture and a little shade. This plant is really worth growing for its very pretty flowers and long season. Easily propagated by root division, spring or autumn, but tough to dig it up!

Mints

Spearmint (Mentha viridis) (Labiatae) Peppermint (Mentha piperita)
Pennyroyal (Mentha polegium)

This is a large family and the three major ones are mentioned below.

Spearmint

Mentha viridis

Habitat and appearance: This is often called garden mint and, although a common garden plant, it is not native to Britain but to the Mediterranean region. It has creeping stock roots and erect, square stems (reaching approximately 60cm high), bearing pointed, lance-shaped, slightly wrinkled, mid-green leaves. It has tiny flowers forming dense clusters, being pinky-purple and appearing mid-summer.

Peppermint

Mentha piperita

Habitat and appearance: A native throughout Europe, and in Britain very common in damp, wet areas in England. The stems, 50cm-1m high, are quadrangular and bear broad, smooth and finely-toothed leaves. The whorled clusters of reddish-violet flowers are born on small spikes, appearing in mid-summer.

Pennyroyal

Mentha polegium

Habitat and appearance: Native to Europe and Asia, and common in Britain. This is the smallest of these three mints and very different in form. It has weak prostrate stems (quadrangular in shape) extending from 5-30cm, which stem down rootlets along its length. The leaves are oval (roundish), grey-green and small. The flowers are in whorled clusters, rising in tiers like a wedding cake at each node (from which spring leaf pairs), from mid-stem to top. They flower in mid-summer, July to August, and are reddish-purple to lilac in colour.

Nettles - Greater or common

Uritica dioica (Urticaceae)

Habitat and appearance: Native to Europe and Asia, and common throughout Britain since Roman days. A perennial, 90cm-2m tall, it has a creeping and fast-multiplying root system. Its leaves are heart-shaped, finely-toothed, on sparsely branched, bristly stems. It has green flowers, forming clusters in long, drooping racemes. Male and female flowers appear on different plants relying on wind fertilisation; they appear between June and September. The whole plant is covered with the familiar stinging hairs.

Garden suitability: This is probably a plant which does not need to be encouraged, however it is always wise to allow a patch of nettles somewhere, for spring cutting and for the general ecosystem balance in the garden.

Rosehip (Dog Rose)

Rosa-canina (Rosaceae)

Habitat and appearance: Native to Europe, North Africa and Asia, it is a very common sight in British hedgerows. It is a climbing, trailing, perennial shrub gaining height of 1-3m. The whole plant is covered in prickles, but in mid to late summer it is also covered in large white or pale pink, sweet-smelling flowers. These are then followed by 15mm-long fleshy, scarlet fruits (hips) in autumn. Its leaves are alternate, ovate and serrate and slightly acute, and look like all others of the rose family.

Garden suitability: Easily grown from see, this is a rampant plant, especially if given rich, loamy soil. It makes a wonderfully thick hedge, though prickly! It is frequently cultivated for its use as a root stock for grafting other rose varieties.

Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinalis (Labiatae)

Habitat and appearance: Native to the Mediterranean coast. This shrubby, aromatic and evergreen perennial reaches 1-2m, more or less depending on the species. With age, the plant becomes more woody. Its leaves are linear, dark green above and pale beneath, while the flowers are pale blue and small, appearing from late spring to early summer.

Garden suitability: Rosemary is the fourth of the six important culinary herbs in this chapter and is an old favourite throughout history. It succeeds best in light, slightly dryish soils which should be sheltered and facing south if possible; ideal at the base of a wall. Rosemary can be propagated by seeds, cuttings and layerings, but the to latter are perhaps the easiest way to produce plants. This is a plant never to be without, even if it means growing it in a pot and bringing it in over winter in colder regions.

Thyme Garden

Thymus vulgaris (Labiatae)

Habitat and appearance: As an ‘improved’ or cultivated form of the wild thyme from Europe and a near relative to our British wild thyme (thymus serpyllum), it is not native to anywhere. It is an aromatic sub-shrub which has woody stems and, although a perennial, can dwindle in vitality after three to five years of growth. It reaches 10-30cm, and has numerous, round, hard stems, which branch out. The leaves are tiny and linear-elliptic, grey-green in colour, and set in pairs. The flowers terminate the branches in whorls of dense or sparse inflorescences, and are lilac to white, flowering from May to August.

Garden suitability: The sixth of the culinary herbs, it is probably the most widely known, alongside is very many other species and hybrids. Propagation can be achieved by cuttings, root division or seed, but the easiest method is to prise away a piece of the plant which is attached to some root (peaty soil makes this easier), i.e. an ‘Irishman’s cutting’. Easy to propagate, it can be grown almost anywhere (even in very cold climates as an annual) and should definitely adorn your own garden, especially as it is one of the first herbs to flower in the season, attracting bees and butterflies. It enjoys almost uncultivated ground and grows on or near dry walls or stony land, becoming very hardy. Lighten heavy soil with grit.

Verbena, Lemon

Lippa citriodora (Verbenaceae)

Habitat and appearance: Native to Chile and Peru, it is now widely cultivated in Europe. This is a deciduous perennial shrub and the whole plant abounds with fragrant, volatile oil. The leaves are particularly fragrant, pale green, of medium length and lanceolate with parallel veins. They are arranged in threes along the stems, which form a sparse branched system. Is height varies from 30cm-3.5m, depending on the age of the specimen. It flowers in August, producing terminal panicles made up of many small flowers, which are pale purple.

Garden suitability: If a sheltered, dry, southerly aspect exists, especially against a wall, this plant can survive a British winter in the middle to southern counties. Otherwise, it is best grown in a large clay pot and brought in in winter. It particularly enjoys light, gritty soil and rewards a correct environment with a heavenly scent.