USEFUL PLANTS

A herb is any plant, or part of a plant, which can be used for food, flavouring, medicine or fragrance. The usefulness of these plants means they have been traded and distributed around Europe for many centuries. The trade in herbs and spices across Europe and into Britain dates back to Roman times. Many plants that are a familiar part of the British landscape, such as fennel and wild thyme, and even weeds, such as dandelion and ground elder, were in fact introduced as herbs by the Romans.