During the initial phase of my doctoral research I asked people, ‘Which plants do you gather and grow for medicinal purposes?’. In an online survey, sent to herbalists and posted on social media, I asked everyday folk and professional users to list the plants they foraged from countryside hedgerows and woods, from city streets and parks, and those nurtured in gardens, allotments and smallholdings. I asked how plants were prepared and for what use. Eighty two people responded, listing over 200 plant species and hybrids and many more identified to genus level. Recorded were garden herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage, weeds such as dandelion and nettle, and shrubs and trees including elder, lime and willow. Many were plants that might be found in any modern herbal and used for complaints such as coughs, colds, insomnia and stomach upsets, as spring tonics and for more chronic complaints such as arthritis or eczema. There were also less common plants, for example thorn apple and woad, used respectively for pain and infections. Clearly, homegrown remedies from locally gathered plants – defined here as ‘local herbalism’ – were still being used to address both simple and complex healthcare needs.
https://www.herbalhistory.org/home/placing-contemporary-local-herbalism-in-a-historical-context/