She beguiles me, that Nasturtium, charming me away from worry, so soft, luscious and lovely is she. True, she’s shy of frost and a bit deceitful, hiding a taste more peppery than beautiful. In horticulture what a darling, spreading with lively step over barren ground and studding it soon with flowers.

Plantain species seem outwardly very diverse. We have fun with this diversity by offering seed from quite a few types. In essence these are used interchangeably in herbal medicine. Astringent, detoxifying, laden with green juice that is very good for the skin, containing the cell-proliferant molecule alantoin, these are the ultimate vulnerary.

Quilquina (Porophyllum ruderale)(Bolivian Coriander, Killi, Papaloquelite) embodies one of the odder aspects of herbalism, that is keeping touch with various plants that are oddly smelly or shockingly bright to the taste. I have known quite a few, like Mastic Thyme (Thymus mastichina) and Spilanthes (Acmella oleracea), but frankly Killi takes the cake. There is nothing quite like it, unless you were to count fresh Rue (Ruta graveolens) covered in lemon juice and salt, and even that wouldn’t be quite the same.