Glossary of terms used

Analgesic: decreases pain.

Anthelmintic: expels worms from the intestine. Different plants are used according to the worm in question (roundworms, pinworms or tapeworms).

Anti-anemia: fights anemia with a supply of vitamins and minerals (iron) that help the blood to replenish its stock of red blood cells.

Antiasthmatic: against asthma.

Bluetongue: Tales acute or chronic inflammation of the mucous membranes with hypersecretion.

Anti-congestive: against the morbid accumulation of blood in the vessels of an organ.

Antidiabetic: decreases the level of glucose in the blood.

Antiepileptic: against epilepsy.

Anti-inflammatory: combats and prevents inflammation.

Anti milky: reduces the secretion of milk.

Antiphlogistic: fight and prevent inflammation.

Antiscorbutic: fights scurvy by bringing vitamin C.

Antiseptic: kills microbes, or prevents their development, which prevents contagion; Helps to disinfect wounds and cleans some organs. Eucalyptus and pine are therefore antiseptics of the respiratory tract.

Antispasmodic: relaxes certain painful muscles by acting on the nerve impulse that controls the rhythm of muscle contraction.

Aperitif: contains bitter principles that open the appetite and prepare the rest of the digestive operations.

Aromatic: contains very fragrant essential oils.

The aromatics are tonic and stimulating, sometimes stomachic.

Astringent: tightens and contracts tissues, capillaries, orifices and tends to decrease the secretions of the mucous membranes. Astringent plants are often anti-haemorrhagic and sometimes cause constipation.

Bechique: calm coughs and irritations of the pharynx.

Calming: calm and regulates nervous activity.

Cardiotonic: strengthens, slows down and regulates the heartbeat.

Carminative: promotes the expulsion of intestinal gas.

Carminative plants are often aromatic and stimulating.

Caustic: which destroys the tissues.

Cholagogue: contract the gall bladder, thus allowing the evacuation of the bile of the bile duct in the intestine.

Healing: Helps healing wounds and healing bruises.

Coricide: externally applied, allows to absorb corns.

Deodorant: mask the bad smells.

Detergent: cleans wounds and ulcers, thus facilitating their healing.

Digestive: helps digestion by facilitating the work of the stomach.

Diuretic: completes the elimination process by purifying the blood of the toxins it contains. Some diuretics remove chlorides and are useful in cases of edema, others eliminate urea, others simply increase the volume of surin.

Emetic: causes vomiting.

Emmenagogue: facilitates or increases the evacuation of the rules. No plant can really cause their appearance.

Emollient: exerts a soothing effect on the skin and mucous membranes when they are inflamed.

Exciting: which stimulates the body.

Expectorant: promotes the expulsion of bronchial and pharyngeal secretions.

Febrifuge: fight fever or prevent access.

Fortifying: which gives strength, courage.

Galactagogue: promotes or activates the secretion of milk in nurses.

Hypertensive: causes a drop in blood pressure.

Hypoglycemic agent: decreases the level of glucose in the blood.

Insecticide: kills some insects and moves away from others. Generally, the insecticidal principles are contained in volatile essences.

Laxative: facilitates the evacuation of the stool, either by increasing their volume, or by stimulating the peristaltic movement of the intestine.

Mucilaginous: contains carbohydrates that swell with water, forming a viscous solution, mucilage.

Pectoral: has a beneficial effect on the organs of the respiratory system. Bicic plants are pectoral.

Purgative: very strongly laxative, accelerating peristalsis and sometimes irritating the intestinal mucosa.

Refreshing: calms thirst and lowers body temperature. Acidic plants, which are also antiphlogistic, are refreshing.

Remineralizing: allowing, by a contribution of mineral salts and trace elements, to reconstitute the mineral balance of the body.

Resolutive: produces the resolution of engorgements and inflammations, which makes the tissues return to their normal state of the body.

Rogue: produces irritation and redness of the skin.

Sedative: calm and regulates nervous activity.

Stimulant: excites the functions of awakening, nervous and vascular activity. There are specific organ stimulants, for example from the digestive tract or the heart.

Stomachic: helps digestion by facilitating the work of the stomach.

Sudorific: stimulates perspiration.

Vasodilator: dilates the blood vessels, causing the swelling of the irrigated tissues.

Vermifuge: expels worms from the intestine. Different plants are used according to the worm in question (roundworms, pinworms or tapeworms).

Vomitive: causes vomiting.

Vulnerable: Helps healing wounds and healing bruises

Humulus

Rhumex

Petroselinum

Galium

Echinacéa

Pastinaca

Borago

Arthemisia

Artemisia

Arnica

Arctium

Anthriscus

Anthemis

Anethum

History of simples

The list of singles and their properties is only suggested here for Claire Fraser's use in the Outlander series. It would not be a question of considering it as a medical conduct to hold.

If I have researched the best possible way to propose a range that seems to me to correspond, in any case I have not become an expert on the subject.

Aromatic and medicinal plants have always been part of the human diet. The caveman hunted for food but his meal also included picking fruits, leaves, berries and harvested roots.

- 6000 BC It was possible to identify, through the study of pollen (palynology), the presence of, among others, marshmallow and yarrow in the Neandertalian focus.

- 2,800 years BC, in China, under the Emperor Shen-nong, we found a manuscript which contained 365 plants cultivated for their therapeutic virtues and in which was also referenced 70 poisonous plants, thus acting counter-poison.

- In 1555 BC, Egyptians cultivated their vegetable garden, in the form of squares. Garlic, onion, purslane and celery were thus cultivated. The papyrus of Ebers lists more than 700 medicinal preparations among which we can identify the use of cumin, coriander, garlic, poppy, anise, fennel, mint ... The plants were classified according to their actions: vermifuges, sedatives, diuretics. In ancient Greece, the brotherhood of rhizomates gathered and prepared roots and medicinal herbs.

- 400 years BC, Aristotle and Hippocrates, fathers of the theory of the balance of moods classified the plants according to their use.

- In 65 AD, Dioscorides compiles and describes the universe of 579 plants, evoking their 4700 medical uses and their active ingredient in 'De Materia Medica'. It contains the origin, varieties and cultivation method of medicinal preparations.

- It is in the second century that Galien brings together knowledge and medical formulas from antiquity.

- From the year 500, monks and nuns, thanks to the mastery of Greek and Latin inherit the knowledge of simple. They are responsible for the creation of herbaria and the design of medicinal gardens whose prepared plants are intended for the medical profession.

- It is in 812, that Charlemagne with his Capitulaire de Villis advocates the cultivation of 88 medicinal plants throughout the kingdom: anise, lovage, sage, thyme, fennel, camomile are included.

- Until the twelfth century, the cultivation of these plants became the reserved domain of women. But before the therapeutic power that gives them the church worries and that's when the witch hunt begins. This is the birth of apothecaries.

- In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with large maritime expeditions is the discovery of plants and spices. Paracelsus founds the theory of signatures to follow his observation of plants to which he attributes an action with respect to each organ.

- It is at the court of Louis XIV, in the seventeenth century, that these remedies will be used not only in the aftermath of feasts, but also in the kitchen where wild plants come to sanitize the meat meats.

- In the eighteenth century, these wild plants will be sought in times of scarcity.

- Then in the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution and rural exodus will cause the decline of populations in the countryside and the loss of knowledge. Then modern medicine will bring out the meaning of active ingredients and this will be the beginning of synthetic products. The poorest, however, will continue to use the herbal remedies found on the markets in the countryside.