The Pharmacy in Your Garden Trivia Quiz

Answer: Comfrey

The genus Symphytum translates from Greek as a combination of 'growing together of bones' and 'a plant' which, along with traditional names such as knitbone, point to its historical use as a medicinal herb.

Deep-rooted, hairy-leafed and carrying bell-shaped flowers, it gets praise from the organic gardener for its ability to mine minerals from the soil and accumulate them. This means it makes a great garden fertiliser, can be used as a compost activator and is a good companion plant for your fruit trees. The Russian comfrey (the Blocking 14 cultivar) normally seen in gardens is sterile but spreads from root cuttings. As such, it can be difficult to get rid of, should you want to.

Answer: Goldenrod

Blamed mistakenly for causing hay fever, goldenrod is insect-pollinated as its pollen is sticky and too heavy to get airborne. It however flowers at the same time as ragweed, which is wind pollinated and so is the more likely cause of any hay fever.

An edible plant with some 120 species in the genus, it was at one time developed for its potential for making synthetic rubber by both Thomas Edison (the inventor) and Henry Ford (the car manufacturer). Some species have achieved invasive species status in a number of countries. The photo shows Solidago canadensis.

Answer: Alyssum

A native of the Mediterranean, sweet alyssum is also known as madwort or healbite and is shown in the photo. Its scent has been compared to honey or beeswax.

These days it is useful in the vegetable garden for providing long-flowering ground cover and as a companion plant, attracting beneficial insects such as hoverflies to help with pest control. The flowers and leaves are said to be edible. Too much contact can irritate the skin.

Answer: Scabiosa

The photo shows a Scabiosa columbaria, which has common names such as pigeon scabious, dove scabious (columbaria translates as dove-like) or pincushion flower. Scabiosa is related to the word 'scabies' through the Latin 'scabere' (meaning to scratch). At one time it was thought to help relieve the itch of scabies and the plague.

Not all plants carrying the common name of scabious belong to the genus Scabiosa. Others appears in such genera as Cephalaria, Knautia and Succisa.

Answer: Stone-breaker

The name Saxifraga comes from the Latin saxum (stone/rock) and fragere (to break). The genus consists of over 400 species and are found in the Arctic and northern hemisphere alpine regions, typically sporting ground-hugging leaves with flowers on stalks.

Mediaeval medicinal use possibly harks back to the doctrine of signatures, where the shapes of plant parts were interpreted as divine hints as to its use. Thus Saxifraga granulata (meadow saxifrage), with its kidney-shaped leaves and small grain-like bulbils, suggested that it was good for dealing with kidney stones.

Strangely, perhaps, the doctrine can be self-fulfilling. The value of ginseng in Traditional Chinese medicine is in its humanoid shape and so ginseng has been selectively bred for this characteristic over thousands of years.

Answer: Saponaria

Native to Europe and Asia, there are some 30 species in the genus. The genus name Saponaria comes from the Latin for soap or soapy. The one in the photo is the common soapwort (S. officinalis). The 'officinalis' part refers to its medical history, meaning belonging to the officiana which was the medical and herb storeroom of a monastery. Over 50 plants carry this designation.

In the case of soapwort, its use included for skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Soapwort has a number of other common names such as bouncing-bet, wild sweet William and crow soap.

Answer: Calendula

The one shown, pot marigold, is said to get its name from its use in German soups and stews. It has a history of use as a dye, both of fabrics and foods like butter and cheese. Calendula oil still has medical applications, including healing wounds and as an anti-inflammatory. The plant, however, has been known to cause allergic reactions.

Pot marigold is the common name for Calendula officinalis. There are some 15 species in the genus.

Answer: Aristolochia

Comprising some 500 species of woody vines, the genus Aristolochia translates as 'best' (aristos) 'childbirth' (-locheia) and its name and medical use is due to the doctrine of signatures (where the shape of the plant is a divine clue to its use) rather than the philosopher Aristotle. An alternative explanation is that it was named after a Greek called Aristolochos who dreamt that it was a snakebite antidote.

With a medicinal history going back to the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and in traditional Chinese medicine, it has more recently been blamed for thousand of kidney failures due to the toxicity of aristolochic acid. The acid is also a potent carcinogen. Swallowtail butterfly larvae eat many of the species, making them unpalatable to many predators.

The photo shows A. littoralis (elegant Dutchman's pipe or calico flower).

Answer: Marsh mallow

Once used in a medicinal sweet made by the Ancient Egyptians, the modern-day sweet no longer contains any trace of the plant.

The genus Althaea ('to heal') consists of around 12 species. A. officinalis (in the photo) has a culinary and medical history going back several thousand years. The Romans considered it a food delicacy. It can be used as a pot herb and to thicken soups, for example. It is also used as a food source in times of shortage. Medically, it has been used since Ancient Egyptians times for soothing sore throats, ulcers, digestive disorders and the like. The mucilage in the plant is a key aspect of its use.

Answer: Salvia

S. officinalis (shown in the photo) is also known as sage and is part of a genus with over 900 species. This one species has many cultivars with variations in leaf and flower shape, size and colouring, however leaves tend to be oblong with mostly white soft hairy undersides. Its medical applications cover such areas as digestive problems, menopause and memory loss.

An unusual pollination mechanism is the defining characteristic of the genus. A lever mechanism is triggered by an insect (or bird) with the result that pollen (from a male flower) is deposited on the insect's back by the stamen. The lever is reset when the pollinator leaves. A similar process occurs in the female flower with the stigma bending to touch the spot where the pollen has previously been deposited.