Details About Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis): How to Grow It, Use it Medicinally, Culinarily and Scientific Studies Explaining How it Works to Treat Specific Ailments

By Mindy Lee Crouch

Researching how to grow, use and eat a plant can be a daunting task. So many would like to grow their own herb garden. How many have tried to grow rosemary, perhaps those poor plants from grocery store that you bring home out of pity then they die in a week? Ever wonder how you keep them alive? How much is safe to use in your meal? Can you do rosemary chicken AND rosemary potatoes without ill effects? If I want to make a tea with rosemary, how much is safe? Is it safe to consume while pregnant or lactating? All of these questions are answered within these pages. This book is a combination of the data used by two professions, herbalism and botany, in an attempt to provide as much information to the reader as may be desired. This includes how to grow the plant, what it looks like when stressed, what causes it stress and how to address it (not inclusive), what it can be used for medicinally (with summaries of studies to back it up), safe dosages and safety recommendations by professionals, and there is even a list of books (not inclusive) of books where you can find recipes of other professionals. This book is a scientific guide to help people find the data they are looking for and is fully sourced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667895949

Book preview

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Published by Crouch Writing Gallery on November 22, 2020 through Amazon.  Rereleased through BookBaby in 2023.

https://www.crouchwritinggallery.com/

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All images within are by Mindy Crouch.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

In no way may this text be construed as encouraging or conditioning any harmful or illegal act. In no way may this text be construed as able to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, injury, symptom, or condition.

Named individuals used throughout this text as examples to explain concepts and situations are fictitious. Any similarity to any persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Basic Information

Latin Name

Family

Descriptive Characteristics

Part of the Plant Used

Texture

Color

Aroma

Flavor

Images (Botanical Information)

Different Seasons

Stages of Growth

Entire Plant

Cultivation

Zone

Soil

Light

Grow Length

Companion Plants

Tending Instructions

Propagation

Harvest Instructions

Wildcrafting Instructions

Preservation Instructions

Seed Saving Instructions

Storing Information

Health Information

Constituents

Therapeutic Actions

Current Uses

Historical Uses

Formulary

Dosage

Safety

Lab

Culinary Information

Nutrition

Research

References

Appendix I (Constituents)

Appendix II (Therapeutic Actions)

Preface

This book is not meant to replace existing books but to help navigate the confusing world of herbs.  The plethora of material both in print and on the world-wide web often conflict making a budding herbalist question what is true and who is a reliable source. This book compares all the books the author has purchased, meaning it will expand as her library expands, as well as published scientific articles. The author also includes her own experience, including pictures which are taken from her own plants through various stages of life.

Professional herbalists keep notes in an herbalist herbarium and a botanist keeps a botanical herbarium.  This book is composed of the data from both fields with a bit of extra data sprinkled in. 

The data in the following pages will help the reader know which resources may best suit their purposes. Building an herbal library can be quite costly.  When the local books stores do not have the desired material, people turn to the internet and risk getting material that does not further their interests or research.  This book and those that will follow will help the reader in book selection.  The author does not recommend one book over another as each book is suitable for the needs of someone. There are no recipes contained herein but the source of where to find them outside of the standard tea, etc is listed within these pages.  Many authors have created their own blends and they deserve the recognition for their work. This book will help connect the reader with that data.

Common Name: Rosemary

Latin Name: Rosmarinus officinalis

Also known as: Compass Plant, Compass Weed, Encensier, Herbe Aux Couronnes, Old Man, Polar Plant, Romarin, Romarin Des Troubadours, Romero, Rose de Marie, Rose Des Marins, Rosée De Mer, Rosemarine, Rusmari, Rusmary (Natural Medicine Monograph)

Family: Lamiaceae

Descriptive Characteristics: Heinerman (1997) describes rosemary as ash colored branches, scaly bark, and bear opposite (p. 403). The leaves are thick, especially in the center along the vein. The bottom of the leaf tends to be a lighter green than the dark green on top. According to Bown (1995), the pictures of rosemary below is Rosmarinus officinalis Tuscan blue. She says this variety can grow to be as tall as 6 feet (p. 193). Chevallier (2016) says this is an aromatic evergreen that grows to 6 ½ feet or 2 meters (p. 128).

Part of the plant used:  Leaf, twig (Hoffman, 2003). Marcin (1999) adds flower (p, 91). Bown (1995) says leaves, flowers, and oil (p. 343). Weiss and Fintelmann (2000) say the leaves when used medicinally are called Rosmarini folium (p. 176). Balch (2010) says leaves only (p. 124). Chevallier (2016) says the leaves (p. 128).

Texture: The branch is woody and the leaves feel smooth and thicker in the center where the vein is. Because of the

thickness of the leaves, the diameter may feel like it is an oval shape.

Color: Green leaves on top, lighter green on the bottom, almost a sage color depending on which variety of rosemary it is.

Aroma: Like rosemary (most people cook with it).  I have noticed the scent does change a little with the species as well.

Flavor: Strong

Images (Botanical Information)

All images in this document were taken by the author at her home in north-west Louisiana.  As of this writing in July 2020, the plant is 9 years old and has been in its home for 4 years.

Different seasons

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This picture was taken in Spring 2019.  This plant is about 8 years old.

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This picture was taken about a week after heavy rains.  The date of the photo is 23 October, 2019, taken at 4pm.  This is how it looks after it starts recovering from being watered too much.  The leaves are quite yellow when the roots are excessively wet.  If the conditions remain for too long, the plant will die.

Stages of growth

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These pictures were taken on October 1, 2019. This had been set to grow a root for a week at this point.

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These pictures were taken