Surratt House Museum Herb Garden--Herb Descriptions, page 1 of 3

Surratt House Museum Leaf A Victorian Herb Garden

Descriptions of Some Popular and Interesting Herbs

The herbs described below are some of the more unusual herbs (to our modern way of thinking) which grow in the garden at Surratt House Museum. This is just a small sampling of the herbs that were used in Victorian America. Several web sites provide comprehensive lists of herbs. For information about a wide variety of herbs, with plant descriptions, growing tips, harvesting instructions and recipes for medicines as well as meals, consult these sites: Herbweb is a comprehensive site which provides names, growing regions, uses and recipes for more than 28,000 herbs and Botanical.Com: A Modern Herbal is a user-friendly data base of 800 herbs.


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(click thumbnail below) Herb Uses
Artemesia Artemisia
(Sweet Annie)		 Pungent herb used as a moth repellant, ingredient in yellow dye and, medicinally, to treat malaria, the common cold, and digestive upsets. Also treats dandruff. Can be harmful if misused.
Caraway Caraway Popular culinary herb. Leaves can be used in salads and soups. The seeds can be ground up and used in baking and in savory dishes. Also good as tea for digestive complaints.
Chives Chives Found in kitchen gardens since the early 1800s, "Culpeper's Complete Herbal" warns, "If they be eaten raw...they send up very hurtful vapors to the brain..."2 Chop the leaves for a delicate onion flavor in salads, sauces and omelettes.
Digitalis Digitalis
(Foxglove)		 Both synthetic and natural forms of digitalis are used to treat heart failure. Legend has it that Vincent Van Gogh took digitalis for epilepsy, and that the yellow vision which is a side effect of this drug may have influenced his art.3 Remember those sunflowers?!
Dill Dill Native to the Mediterranean and southern Russia, the name comes from the Norse dilla meaning "to lull." It once was used to induce sleep. In American history, dill and fennel seed were known as "meetin' seed" because they were given to children to eat during long Sunday sermons.4 Photo from Garden Guides

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