Lovage
Common Name: lovage
Botanical Name: Levisticum officinale
Native Range: Eastern Mediterranean
A description of lovage in The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard, 1636:
This plant being our common garden Lovage, has large and broad leaves, almost like smallage (the wild variety of celery). The stalks are round, hollow and knotty, 3 cubits high, having spokie tufts, or bushy rundles; and at the top of the stalks of a yellow color, a round, flat, and brown seed, like the seed of Angelica: the root is long and thick, and brings for the every year new stems.
The roots of Lovage are very good for all inward diseases, driving away ventosites or windiness of the stomach. The seed thereof warms the stomach, helps digestion; where for the people of Gennes in times past did use it in their meats, as we do pepper, according to the testimony of Ant. Musa. The distilled water of Lovage clears the sight, and puts away all spots, lentils, freckles, and redness of the face, if they be often washed therewith.
Last updated: 1/3/2020