Angelica (Angelica archangelica) is a biennial plant, with hollow stems and bright green, lobed, leaves. It can grow up to 10ft / 3 metres in height in its second year, when the pale greenish-yellow flower heads, in large umbels, appear during July and August.
The dried seed heads add architectural interest to the winter garden.
Alternative common names include Angel Herb, Masterwort, and Garden Angelica. This last distinguishes it from wild angelica, a very similar plant but whose flowers are white tinged with purple, as are the stems.
The wild flower is native to many northern European countries from Russia to Scandinavia to the Faroe Islands. Angelica has also been cultivated for centuries, and was long regarded as one of the most important of all medicinal herbs, as roots, leaves and seeds could be used in a diversity of remedies and in cooking.
Medicinal Uses
During the late middle ages, herbalists attributed powerful properties to the herb. In the 16thcentury, Gerard stated ‘it cureth the bitings of mad dogs and all other venomous beasts.’ Steeping a piece of angelica root in vinegar was believed to prevent infection in time of plague, as the 17thcentury herbalist Nicolas Culpeper proposed: “take an orange or a lemon, cut off the top, pick out the meat, prick it full of small holes, put it into a piece of sponge or fine linen cloth dipped in the aforesaid vinegar and smell it.”
Angelica produces a volatile oil. Modern herbalists may also prescribe angelica extracts and remedies for a variety of ailments, though not for the plague or rabid dog bites…
- Arthritis
- Coughs and colds
- Influenza
- Fever
- Indigestion
- Insomnia
- Loss of appetite
- Menstrual difficulties and labour pains
- Neuralgia
- Rheumatism
Culinary Uses
Older readers may remember the sticky little green pieces of ‘crystallised angelica’, once commonly used as edible decoration on cakes and desserts. Little diamond shapes of angelica made the leaves to go with the split-almond petals and glacé cherry centres of the ‘flowers’ on my mother’s home made trifle. If you miss the green stickiness, it’s always possible to candy angelica at home, but boiling sugar can be hazardous…
Young leaves and stems, chopped finely, make a natural sweetener for stewing rhubarb and other fruits. The aromatic seeds, and the crushed root, can be used to flavour food and drink.
Other Uses
The roots and fruits yield angelica oil, which is used in perfume, confectionery, in teas, and as the source of yellow dye.
Myth and Magic
In some northern European countries the plant was at the centre of local festivals, when people gathered the plant and chanted or sang while returning to the village to sell it. One legend said the Archangel Michael appeared, with the plant, to a Benedictine monk who was given it as a cure for the plague. Certainly Benedictine, the liqueur originally made by the monks, contains oil of angelica. Widely believed to protect against spells and witchcraft, angelica was also known in some places as ‘The Root of the Holy Ghost’.
Acknowledgements– thanks to the following for some of the above information:
www.rxlist.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.medicinalherbinfo.org
www.webmd.com
www.eldrumherbs.co.uk
www.eatweeds.co.uk
www.apothecarysgarden.com
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal
