The Herb Garden at Historic Christ Church & Museum - 2025
CULINARY
Burnet - Sweet Herb
Calendula - Pot Herb, flavored soups and stews
Chives - Sweet or Pot Herb, then an indispensable seasoning as it is now
Fennel - Sweet or Pot Herb, leaves used for flavoring fish
Lettuce - Sweet Herb used in English “sallets”
Lovage - Sweet or Pot Herb, flavor similar to celery
Marjoram - Pot Herb
Nasturtium- Indian cresse used in salads, Sweet Herb
Okra - Soup thickener/vegetable brought from Africa by Enslaved
Coriander - Sweet or Pot Herb
Mustard - Brought from Africa; used as a Pot Herb
Marigold - Colonials candied flowers such as Marigold and ate them as a delicacy
Primrose - Leaves used in English “sallets”
Rosemary - Pot Herb used in soups and stews
Sage - Pot Herb for sauces and meat stuffing almost as essential as salt and pepper
Sorrell - Pot Herb
Summer Savory - Pot Herb
Tansy - Colonists celebrated Easter with Tansey Cakes; thought to purge the system after a long winter of salted fish
Tarragon - Pot or Sweet Herb, has a flavor like ginger
Thyme - Pot Herb used widely in soups and stews
Winter Savory - Pot Herb added flavor to meat dishes and trout
Sunflower - Indians snacked on seeds; also ground seeds into flower for cakes
Lemon Grass - Dried, used in herbal teas
Note: Sweet Herbs eaten raw in salads
Pot herbs’ oils flavor in the heat of the pot
MEDICINAL
Wild Bergamot - Induces sweating, diaphoretic
Betony - A “simple” colonists used for healing
Borage - Added to wine drives away sadness
Chamomile - Used to settle the stomach and calm nerves; Tennant recommends use after Ipecac
Cornflower - Good against the inflammation of the eyes
Spotted Geranium (Cranes Bill) - Cures miraculously ruptures and bustings
Dandelion - Helps one to see further without spectacles
Dittany - Assistance with flatulence; good substitute for mint
Elecampane - Best help for consumption
Feverfew - Remedy infirmities of careless midwife
Horehound - English and African Enslaved used to treat cough and congestion
Hyssop - Treats Cough, Shortness of Breath
Iris Virginica - Helped with evacuation of the bowels; used by the Indians and English
Joe Pye Weed - Treated fever and dysuria; used by the Powhatan who taught the English its value for treating fever such as typhus
Lemon Balm (“Bawm”) - Helped pain and wind in the stomach; had a calming influence
Mullein - Enslaved Africans used for rashes, earaches; used in teas and smoking blends
Peppermint - Treatments for colic or stomach issues
Pennyroyal - In a plaster with Indian Pepper good for pleurisy; Powhatan used it for women’s issues
Broadleaf Plantain - Tea with a boiled plantain leaf good for urine suppression. African Enslaved - purge the intestines, aid in weight loss, oil to treat boils
Rosemary - Tennant says to roll in a ball and work it in the hands to treat palsy
Rue - A drought taken helps with agues and boiled in oil helps with colic
Sage - Stops bleeding assists foul ulcers/sores. Africans Enslaved used it to help with sleep, cramps
Spearmint - Aid for stomach issues, digestion
Tansey - Induced sweating, strong purgative
Thyme - Treat hot swellings and warts, helps spleen, kills stomach worms
Valerian - Headaches, trembling, heart palpitations
Yarrow - Stanches Bleeding
FRAGRANCE (Household Use, Dyes)
Bee Balm - Used to make soap/perfume; blossoms have a pungent lemon smell
Calendula - Source of yellow coloring dye
False Indigo - Source of blue dye
Germander - Strewing Herb, also used as a border plant in colonial gardens
Hyssop - Strewing Herb to spread on dirt, stone, or brick floors
Lavender - Name comes from the Latin word Lavo meaning “to wash;" made into soap, air freshener
Lemon Balm - Oil was distilled and used in perfume and furniture polish
Madder – Red dye, staple red wool, silk and cotton. Thomas Jefferson imported madder seeds in 18ll from France and noted it had been cultivated in Virginia since the Revolution
Marjoram - The tops gave a purplish color to wool and a reddish-brown color to linen
Peppermint - Colonials used all the mints interchangeably; oil used for perfume and to flavor medicines
Rosemary - Cologne cannot be made without it; also used in hair and tooth washes
Rue - Strewing Herb with disinfectant tendencies
Spearmint - Colonials used all mints interchangeably. Oil for perfume; to flavor medicines
Sweet Woodruff - Has a sweet odor making it one of the best of the strewing herbs. Used for festivals, Sundays, weddings, and funerals
Tansy - Makes a yellow dye if leaves are boiled before it blooms
Thyme - Valuable, fragrant strewing herb
Wormwood - Flea Repellant, used to keep moths out of clothing, powdered and sprinkled on books to prevent book lice
Note: Strewing herbs were spread on floors for warmth and changed periodically for cleanliness
BIBLICAL
Dill - Matthew 23:23. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees…tithe of mint and anise…” The verse uses the word anise but the Greek translation is closer to dill
Coriander - Exodus 16:31 “…the house of Isreal called the name…manna, and it was like coriander seed
Rose - Isaiah 35:1 “…and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose”
Dandelion, Chamomile, Lettuce, Sorrel - Numbers 9:11; Exodus 12: 8, Lamentation3:15 - bitter herbs representing bitterness of slavery
Daylily - Matt. 6:28-30 the “Lilies of the Field”
Mint - Matthew 23:23. “Woe unto you ye Pharisees for you pay tithe in Mint…”
Mustard - Matthew 13:31-33 “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto a mustard seed…”
Rue - Luke 11:42 “…for woe unto you Pharisees for ye tithe mint and rue…”
Wormwood - Proverbs 5:4 “But her end is bitter as wormwood…”
Violet - In medieval flower symbolism signifies the humility of our lord
Rosemary - Herb of Remembrance
Carnation - Symbol of a Mother’s Love
Lemon Balm - Genesis 37:25 “… they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold the Israelites came bearing spidery and “balm”
Lily of the Valley - Our Ladie’s Tears, associated with the Virgin Mary, purity
Violet - “The gallant grace of violets bring to a liberal and gentlemanly mind, the remembrance of honestie, comeliness and all kinds of virtues.” Gerard
Yarrow - Lore has it that Jesus used yarrow to stop the bleeding when Joseph, a carpenter, cut his hand.
Hyssop - Psalm 51:7 “…Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean…”
Bee Balm - Red symbolizes passion, white symbolizes purity; Boston drank Bee Balm in tea (Oswego Tea) while boycotting England
Sources
Randolph, Mary - THE VIRGINIA HOUSE WIFE OR METHODICAL COOK, E.H. Butler and Co, Philadelphia and Co 1860
Tennant, John - EVERY MAN HIS OWN DOCTOR; OR POOR PLANTER’S PHYSICIAN,
Second Edition, Williams Parks, 1734
A Citizen of Virginia (John Randolph) - A TREATISE ON GARDENING (1727-1784), Reprinted from THE AMERICAN GARDENER OF JOHN GARDINER OF JOHN GARDINER and DAVID HEPBURN. Published 1728-1784
Brown O. Phelps, Dr. THE COMPLETE HERBALIST OR THE PEOPLE THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN, GREAT CURATIVE PROPERTIES FOUND IN THE HERBAL KINGDOM; (Jersey City, 1878) WWWForgotten Book.,com; FB&C LTD, Dalton House London 2016
Colonial Dames of America - HERBS AND HERB LORE OF COLONIAL AMERICA, Dover Publications Inc. New York, 2017
Zollikofer, William M.D. A MATERIA MEDICA OF THE UNITED STATES, SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED Second Edition with Emendations, Baltimore, James Longrove, 1827; Forgotten Books. com FB&C Ltd; Dalton House London 2016
Jefferson, Thomas; Annotated by Betts, Edwin Morris; THOMAS JEFFERSON’S GARDEN BOOK, With Relevant extracts from his other writings including NOTES ON THE STATE OF VIRGINIA EXCERPTS, The American Philosophical Society, Independence Square, Philadelphia 1985
Gerard, John, GERARD’S GENERALL HISTORIE OF PLANTES;Selections from the 1633 Enlarged and Amended Edition; virtues of all sorts of herbes; Bathered by John Gerard, Master of surgery, enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson, Citizen and Apothecary of London;announced MMX (2010); Voluminous Press
Nicholas Culpepper, edited by David Potterton, Forward by E.J. Shellard; Illustrated by Michael Stringer, CULLPEPPER’S COLORFUL HERBAL. Sterling Publishing Co, Inc. New York
NLM.NIH.gov; National Library of Medicine
HOLY BIBLE: King James Version; THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS, Nashville Tennessee, 1978
Covey, Herbert C.; AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE MEDICINE; (FORMAT KINDLE EDITION) Lexington Books; Lexington, 2007
Work Projects Administration (Format Kindle Edition) WHEN WE WERE SLAVES, HUNDREDS OF RECORDED INTERVIEW, LIFE STORIES AND TESTIMONIES FROM SLAVES IN THE SOUTH;E-ARTNOW EBOOK 2020
Locretia, Vandyke (Format Kindle Edition): AFRICAN AMERICAN HERBALISM; ULYSSES PRESS, New York, Berkely, 2022
Morgan, Erin E., Perry, James E; TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANT USE AMONG VIRGINI’S POWHATAN INDIANS; BANISTERIA, NUMBER 35, PAGES 11-31; VIMS.edu;Virginia Natural History Society, 2010
University of Michigan at Dearborn, NATIVE AMERICAN ETHNOBOTANY DATABASE; A Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of native American Peoples, Derived from Plants, Naeb.brit.org; 1977 updated in 2003, Rappahannock, Iroquois, Cherokee
Julianne Robyn Dela Cruz; BEE BALM FLOWER SYMBOLISM, MEANING AND USES YOU SHOULD KNOW; Learning https://learningvale.com/meaning-symbolism/bee-balm-flower/ 1/6/25
