On a frigid winter's day inside his suburban Maryland home, Jim Duke is sipping a cup of hot tea made from nature's bounty. If it were a balmy winter or early spring day, he would pick rosemary and lavender from his garden to make the pale brew. Instead, he steeps some of their dried leaves, then adds a whole flower that resembles an inverted daffodil.
The tea preparation isn't just about chasing winter's chill. A month shy of his 80th birthday, Duke believes the herbs and flowers in his homemade tea are good for his memory and overall health. For instance, he says, some chemical compounds in rosemary work similar to synthetic chemicals in some drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for Alzheimer's disease.
"Shakespeare called rosemary the herb of remembrance," says Duke, a retired research scientist who holds a doctorate in botany and grows 300 plants on 6 acres near Columbia that he has dubbed the Green Farmacy Garden. "Like sage and lemon balm, it's in the mint family. The flowers and leaves contain natural compounds that prevent the breakdown of vital messenger chemicals in the brain."
It's just one example of how flowers have the potential to heal and restore the body and mind, experts say.
"For centuries, people in cultures around the world have used flowers for well-being," says Andrea Ottesen, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park.
"In traditional cultures, flowers have been used in baths to cleanse unwelcome spirits and invite prosperity. In South America, the Andean women of Peru place rose petals over their eyes [to quell] fatigue. Today, more people are realizing the value of herbal medicine and how many flowers play a role."
From a health and wellness perspective, flower power appears to be in full bloom. At health food stores and grocery chains, cosmetic counters and pharmacies, as well as spas, flowers (or more typically, their extracted essences, which are different from essential oils) are turning up in things like chocolates and bottled water.
Hint, a bottled-water seller, recently released a hibiscus vanilla flavor. The label says Egyptian Pharaohs consumed teas made with hibiscus, a flower said to aid digestion, possibly lower blood sugar and strengthen one's immune system.
