Medical uses for fragrant plants

Fiann Ó Nualláin uses fragrant plants a lot in his horticultural therapy work, as it can calm anxious minds, enliven the dejected, as well as stimulate appetite in depressed and over-medicated patients

This week I have been sowing some Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) seeds which benefit from a few months of cold winter temperatures to prompt successful germination come next spring.

I grow it as a kitchen herb for its sweet and aniseed-like flavour from foliage and flowers. The roots are edible too — raw or cooked — and I have seen old recipes with the seeds included in spice blends. Long before artificial sweeteners or stevia came on the market, sweet cicely was helping those in the know use less sugar in their rhubarb tarts and damson preserves.