#medicinal plants

• Abbatial — Pertaining to an abbey or an abbot; relating to the administrative structures, properties, or charitable institutions managed by a Catholic monastic superior. In the history of public health, abbatial hospitals and infirmaries formed the core of medieval European healthcare, housing the earliest organized pharmacies and medicinal herb gardens.
• Silver vine — Scientific name for a species of climbing vine in the Actinidiaceae family, native to the mountainous areas of China and Japan, commonly known as matatabi vine or silver vine. The plant features leaves that develop a silver-white tint during the growing season and produces elongated orange berries with a mildly spicy flavor. In East Asia, it is widely used in traditional medicine and as a highly potent euphoric stimulant for domestic and big coats, due to volatile compounds such as actinidine.
• Adonis amurensis — The scientific name of the Amur pheasant's eye, a perennial herbaceous plant in the Ranunculaceae family, native to Eastern Asia (Siberia, China, Japan, and Korea). The plant blooms in early spring, often pushing through the snow with its large, solitary, intense golden-yellow flowers, traditionally used as an ornamental plant and in Eastern medicine due to its cardiotonic compounds.
• Aerva — A genus of herbaceous or subshrubby plants belonging to the Amaranthaceae family, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. These species are structurally characterized by alternate leaves and dense, tomentose or woolly inflorescences, often utilized in traditional Ayurvedic medicine due to their diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Ageratum conyzoides — A species of annual herbaceous plant in the genus Ageratum, native to tropical America, widely distributed as an invasive weed in warm regions of the world and recognized for its medicinal properties. Its leaves emit a strong, goat-like odor, and it is traditionally used for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and wound-healing effects, although it contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids toxic to the liver.
• Wild garlic — Popular Romanian name for wild garlic or ramsons (Allium ursinum), a perennial herbaceous plant in the Amaryllidaceae family, growing in shady deciduous forests. Characterized by elongated leaves with a strong garlic odor and white flowers, this plant is structurally recognized for its depurative, hypotensive, and antiseptic therapeutic properties, extensively used in culinary dishes and spring natural remedies.
• Alchemilla — A genus of perennial herbaceous plants in the Rosaceae family, primarily distributed throughout temperate and arctic regions of Europe and Asia, popularly known as lady's mantle. These plants are characterized by lobed leaves, often folded like a fan, which retain dew droplets through guttation, and tiny, greenish or yellowish flowers, being widely utilized in traditional medicine due to their astringent and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Anacyclus — A genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family, native primarily to the Mediterranean region. Species such as Anacyclus pyrethrum (pellitory, Spanish chamomile) are structurally recognized for their roots rich in active compounds with sialagogue, analgesic, and stimulant properties, historically used in traditional and modern medicine to relieve toothaches and stimulate salivary secretions.
• Anise — An annual herbaceous plant in the umbellifer family (Pimpinella anisum), with entire lower leaves and divided upper leaves, small white flowers, and small, ovoid diachene fruits rich in aromatic volatile oils; the aromatic fruits of this plant, widely used as a spice in gastronomy, as a flavoring agent in the alcoholic beverage industry (liqueurs, ouzo, raki), and as a carminative, expectorant, and digestive stimulant remedy in medicine and pharmacy.
• Anise — A regional, archaic, or popular variant name for the aromatic plant Pimpinella anisum, known in literary Romanian as 'anason' (anise). This herbaceous plant of the Apiaceae family is widely cultivated for its small, oval seeds, which are rich in essential oils (especially anethole) and heavily used in gastronomy, baking, liqueur manufacturing, and herbal medicine due to their carminative and digestive properties.
• Genus Anemopsis — A monotypic taxonomic genus of perennial herbaceous plants in the family Saururaceae, exclusively represented by the species Anemopsis californica (commonly known as yerba mansa). The plant is native to wet, saline, and alkaline areas of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, characterized by a unique conical inflorescence surrounded by large white bracts that mimic an anemone flower, and by roots with strong medicinal properties.
• Anise — An annual herbaceous plant of the Umbelliferae family, cultivated for its small, aromatic fruits rich in essential oils (especially anethole); a neologistic, regional, or literary term for anise (Pimpinella anisum). Broadly, the term also refers to the specific sweet, licorice-like flavor extracted from this plant or star anise, heavily utilized in the spirits industry, confectionery, and carminative remedies.
• Anthemis — A genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the family Asteraceae, comprising numerous species popularly known as chamomile or wild chamomile, characterized by flower heads with central yellow tubular florets and white marginal ray florets.
• Antonigă — A regional popular name used in traditional Romanian botany to designate a medicinal herbaceous plant (often associated with St. John's wort or related species from the genus Hypericum or other healing herbs structurally linked to spontaneous flora). This archaic phytonym reflects rural ethno-botany, where therapeutic properties, petal shapes, or blooming periods near Christian feasts dictated plant naming in local communities.
• Asperula odorata — The scientific name (a taxonomic synonym frequently used for Galium odoratum) of a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rubiaceae, commonly known as sweet woodruff; it grows in beech and deciduous forests, famous for its small, white, fragrant flowers and high coumarin content, a volatile structural compound that gives it a pleasant scent of fresh hay when dried, used in the perfume industry and traditional medicine.
• Astragalus glycyphyllus — A robust species of herbaceous perennial plant in the Astragalus genus, Fabaceae family, commonly known as wild liquorice or liquorice milkvetch, native to Europe and Asia Minor. It is structurally characterized by long, prostrate, and branched stems, large pinnate leaves with oval leaflets, and axillary racemes of greenish-yellow flowers, traditionally used in folk medicine for its diuretic, emollient, and hypotensive properties due to its sweetish taste resembling true liquorice.