Polish Herbs, Flowers and Folk Medicine

It's a useful text but the illustrations are mainly decorative, not useful for identifying plants.

In this charming book, Sophie Hodorowicz Knab answers all of the questions that anyone might have about the use of herbs in Poland. She starts by informing us about an archaeological site that dates back to 550-400 BC. The site was discovered in the Bydgoszcz province in1931. It was determined that the early inhabitants grew several types of grain and used herbs in medicinal preparations and for flavoring foods.The author also tells us how herbs were used in the pre-Christian era and how those practices were integrated into the Christian celebrations that came later. Due to the geographic location of Poland, many travelers following the trade routes passed through her borders and introduced exotic new plants to the country.There's an abundance of data offered about the herbal gardens in the monasteries. Those gardens were in many ways the most advanced and useful because the monks had links with their fellow orders from all over Europe. Therefore, the different formulas for herbal medicines were passed back and forth between the monasteries.Palace gardens are also discussed. Since the royal families made marriage alliances with neighboring countries, the spouses often brought different plants and trees with them to be planted in their new home. Italian style gardens and vegetables such as tomatoes and cauliflower were introduced by Queen Bona who was born in Italy.I particularly liked the information given about the cottage gardens. We're told "that a lovely garden was the spirit of the housewife." These kitchen gardens were much simpler than their formal counterparts. The lady of the house would grow the herbs that she liked best. "There was marjoram for sausage, dill for pickling, and parsley, sage and fennel for enhancing soups and stews." The illustrations in this part of the book intrigued me, and I really enjoyed the folk-style drawings. I thought that the different types of bee skeps were very unique. Sugar was a luxury and the common people kept bees so that they would have honey to use as a sweetener.Finally, even the glossary of herbs and flowers presented some absorbing and entertaining passages. The customary usage for the various plants are offered and a few recipes and remedies are also included. The names of the plants are given in English, Latin and Polish. There's even a recipe for Benedictine which sounds very intriguing!I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about Poland.