Workshop: "A herb has grown for this - medicinal plants here and elsewhere"

With alternative practitioner Ines Fehrmann, registration by telephone by June 10: 05542-72812, cost €12.

The workshop combines the theoretical explanations on the exhibition panels and the accompanying lectures with practical activities. During a short tour of the teaching and learning garden and the tropical greenhouse, participants explore medicinal plants with all their senses and then mix a home tea at the "tea bar" from a variety of herbs to suit their own needs and preferences.

They will also prepare a salve together and learn how to preserve valuable ingredients by collecting and preserving them correctly.

Background:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), medicinal plants are in great demand worldwide - after all, 80 percent of the world's population use plants as the basis for tea drugs, phytopharmaceuticals or as isolated pure substances. Many of the common medicines that we can buy in pharmacies contain plant-based raw materials, but where do they come from and how do they get from the plant to the packaging? Which of the plant species that grow here can and may we collect? Valerian in the evening, for example, promotes sleep readiness, shortens the time it takes to fall asleep and improves the quality of sleep. But can I collect and use valerian myself? Or should I switch to the product containing passion flowers?

Many well-known medicinal plants are also culinary herbs and spices. Of course, you could also say it the other way round: that many spices also have healing properties. Thyme is primarily known as a typical spice in Mediterranean cuisine, but it is also a good remedy for respiratory diseases. Derived from the Greek "thymos", which means strength and courage, Roman legionaries are said to have bathed in thyme infusions before going into battle to boost their general motivation. Even the famous Greek physician Hippocrates (460 - 377 BC) used thyme successfully to treat ailments. We still find thyme today in many recipes for use in respiratory infections. But it can do much more: its very potent essential oil is said to have an antioxidant effect against various fungi, bacteria and viruses, it relieves cramps and not only maintains our courage, but also our mental and physical fitness.

The workshop is part of the accompanying program to the exhibition: "The Green Pharmacy - from Hortus Medicus to Pharmaceutical Research" by the Verband Botanischer Gärten e.V., 10-17 June 2018, open daily from 2-4 pm.