Sunnyfield Herb Farm


The Eight Galenic Classes of Medicinal Herbs

The Basic Pharmacopoeia of Greek Medicine

 

            Galen organized the core of the Greek materia medica into eight categories suited to treatment of common conditions – probably for the purpose of memorization.  The following list is from the London Pharmacopoeia of John Quincy (1736, 54), with some modernization of names and a few corrections.  Some sources give coriander rather than caraway.  Quincy incorrectly gives “scariola” instead of chicory.  I have substituted fenugreek for “mercury,” the identity of which is uncertain.  There is some debate among scholars about violet, but practicing herbalists recognize violet as an outstanding emollient, and therefore probably the correct plant. 


Violet

 

Five Emollient Herbs

Four Lesser Cold Seeds

Mallows
Marshmallows
Violet
Fenugreek
Pellitory

Endive
Chicory
Lettuce
Purslane

Four Greater Hot Seeds

Five Greater Opening Roots

Anise Seed
Fennel
Caraway (or Coriander
Cumin

Smallage
Fennel
Asparagus
Parsley
Butcher's Broom

Four Lesser Hot Seeds

Five Lesser Opening Roots

Ammi
Cardamom
Smallage (Celery)
Wild Carrot

Couch Grass
Madder
Eryngo
Capers
Rest Harrow

Four Greater Cold Seeds

Four Cordial Flowers

Cucumber
Pumpkin
Watermelon
Melon

Borage
Bugloss (Echium vulgaris)
Roses
Violets

 

            Emollients break up hardness, dryness, and indurations; hot seeds stimulate vital activities and warm up the tissues; cold seeds sedate, cool, and relax tissues; opening roots primarily promote diuresis, break up clotted blood, release gas, swellings, and stones; cordials lift the spirits.

 

John Quincy, M.D.  Pharmacopoeia officinalis &c. Extermporanea.  Or, A Complete English Dispensatory, In Four Parts.  London: Thomas Longman, 1736.

 

copyright © MMVI  Matthew Wood