A physic garden in Bloomsbury
BMA House
The British Medical Association represents doctors from all branches of medicine all over the UK. Its London Headquarters are built round courtyards, one of which features a garden plant with plants traditionally used as a source of medicines.
Bogbean
There is a pond in the garden with waterplants that have been used by physicians. Bogbean, for example, is a bitter herb which stimulates digestion being both a laxative and a diuretic.
Ferns
The famous Greek physician, Galen, knew of the use of ferns to treat tapeworm. Chemicals from the roots of the ferns paralyse the muscles of the worm, forcing it to release its hold on the wall of the gut. A purgative then flushes out the parasites.
Yew
Plants are still a source of valuable medicines. The bark from mature Pacificyew trees yields taxol, a drug used to treat ovarian and breast cancer. However it would take the bark of three 100-year-old trees to cure one patient. Fortunately chemists have found ways to make the drug starting from chemicals from plants that are related to yew.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 22 January 2007
