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Flowers are an integral part of our lives and are associated with some of the most poignant moments of human experience, such as celebration and grieving. Woven into our conscience from early childhood, the beauty and scent of flowers form associations that evoke memories adults are only dimly aware of.
Used in cooking, flowers often give a more delicate taste and texture than the leaves and it's worth using them for their beauty alone, quite apart from their ability to restore the vitality taken from us by our modern lifestyles.
Be careful not to take them in excess, and be wary if you have a health problem such as high blood pressure or if you're prone to allergies.
Borage
One of the more familiar edible flowers, prettily sprinkled on salads, its calming and stress-relieving qualities have been well-recognised since the time of the Crusades.
Made into a tea, borage can reduce high temperature by encouraging sweating. Borage also has a comforting emollient action because of its soothing saponins and tannins, helpful to soothe eczema, psoriasis, sunburn, rashes and itches.
Calendula
This flower is sometimes called marigold overseas, and shouldn't be confused with the Tagetes species we know as marigold here, which should not be eaten.
Calendula has a wide range of medicinal applications; notably it is used as an anti-inflammatory, to relax muscles and as an astringent and antiseptic to help heal wounds. It also relieves gastric disturbances, as well as colitis, fevers and infections.
Cape sorrel
Indigenous Cape sorrel is easily confused with the Rumex species. In the 16th Century, sailors used the roots, leaves and flowers to treat scurvy. Teenagers should eat a few flowers every day during sorrel's spring flowering to clear their skins of oiliness and pimples.
Carnation
Several of the older varieties of the carnation are used herbally, to soothe nervousness and anxiety, to treat kidney and bladder ailments and skin ailments such as eczema and constipation. Carnation petals make a great dessert decoration; they can even be made into a pickle to serve with cheese.
Clover
Better known as animal fodder, clover has been used as a treatment for cancer, as well as for bronchitis, whooping cough, arthritis and gout. Country children have used crushed clover flowers for years, rubbing them on bee stings and insect bites, to soothe them.
Coriander
The leaves of coriander are a familiar culinary herb and its seeds were combined with cumin and vinegar and used as a preservative for meat by the Romans as long as 2 000 years ago. The pretty, lacy, mauvish-white flowers can be added to salads, stir-fries, fruit salads and stewed fruit.
Cornflower
The exquisite blue flowers and the leaves are both used medicinally, and can be added to cakes and biscuits and even pasta dishes. Monks in 12th-century Europe made cornflower wine which was used to treat ailments ranging from stomach problems, kidney and bladder ailments, to flu.
Dahlia
These glorious flowers only recently became a garden ornamental rather than a food crop. The tubers were eaten by the Aztecs, although their pungent taste never caught on in Europe. The tubers were sliced and used on the skin to treat rashes and grazes.
Day lily
The short-lived lily, which blooms only for a day, was thought to have pain-killing abilities and a tea made from the dried petals was recommended for easing the pain of childbirth.
Delicious monster
This familiar house plant produces a flowering spike that takes an entire year to ripen. Finally the scented, edible white pulp at the centre of the flower is exposed, and this flower heart, with its competing flavour of guava, pineapple, granadilla and banana is, quite simply, food for the gods.
Its medicinal use is mostly externally on spots and dry skin, but don't forget to discard the top of each scale as there are tiny hairs of calcium oxolate on each section that can cause a burning irritation to the skin and tongue.
Fuchsia
No real research has been done on the fuchsia's medicinal and culinary values, but in southern America the crushed petals and the juice of the berries have long been used to treat skin ailments, small blisters and rashes.
Gardenia
In Indonesia, where the fragrant gardenia is extensively grown, the leaves and flowers are made into a tea. This can be taken to ease tight, asthmatic breathing, lower a fever, calm heart palpitations, lower high blood pressure and to ease stress, fear and anxiety.
Garland chrysanthemum
The ancient Chinese use for this flower was as a blood tonic, to help clear toxins from the body and to assist the functioning of the kidneys and bladder. It's a gentle diuretic that helps with cystitis and water retention, and is also a deodoriser. The leaves are used extensively in cooking as a chop suey green and the petals are crushed into butter, fat, batters and sauces to lend colour and flavour.
Geranium
The indigenous creeping wild geranium was traditionally made into vrouetee, a brew used after childbirth and to ease cystitis. It's also known to reduce bloating and relieve indigestion. Rose-scented geraniums are used medicinally as an anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antidepressant and diuretic.
Gladiolus
Zulu and Sotho people have for many generations used the corms of wild gladiolus ground down to a fine meal to treat dysentery, diarrhoea and stomach upsets. Gladiolus petals, placed in a jar of water and left in the sun for a few hours, make a soothing wash for hot, tired feet. Remove the calyx of the flower and it makes a colourful contribution to sandwiches or stews.
Hollyhock
Various species of this much-loved cottage garden plant have been used since 300 BC to treat earache due to chronic catarrh, and hayfever with catarrh and allergic rhinitis. Hollyhock counters excess stomach acid, peptic ulcer pain and soothes irritable bowel syndrome and even diarrhoea. The flowers can also be added to batters, soups, and stews.
Honeysuckle
There are a number of varieties of honeysuckle, all of them exquisitely fragrant, which have similar medicinal properties. Monks in Europe have been using it for centuries to treat chest ailments, hayfever and homesickness.
Crushed and pounded into a gentle cream, honeysuckle flowers make a soothing, pain-relieving treatment for aching, swollen haemorrhoids. Honeysuckle tea and flowers have been used as a heart tonic and for asthma, hayfever, colitis, and rheumatism.
Jasmine
One of the 300 jasmine species, Jasminum multipartum, is indigenous to SA and its flowers are used in traditional medicine, but the best species for medicinal use is Jasmine officinalis.
Jasmine is used to lift depression and ease stress, and a few crushed jasmine flowers rubbed on to the temples will ease the pain of a tight, throbbing headache. However, it should be avoided during pregnancy as it is a uterine stimulant.
Lavender
This hardy herbaceous plant was used by the early Romans in their bath houses as a strewing herb and as a beauty aid. English lavenders from the Lavandula angustofolia have the best flowers for cooking purposes.
Pansy and viola
The tiny heartsease viola is an important heart medicine, hence its name, and is also used to treat high blood pressure, indigestion, coughs, colds and rheumatic conditions. Do not take pansies and violas medicinally for long periods of time as they can cause nausea and vomiting.
Plumbago
This indigenous scrambling shrub can be used to soothe and refresh hot skin. Use freshly crushed flowers over a bruise and bind into place for 10 minutes. You'll be amazed at the efficacy of this old-fashioned folk treatment. The flowers can be eaten in salad or added to gravy with meat.
Poppies
Centuries ago, Native Americans chewed Californian poppies as a pain-killer, particularly to relieve toothache. Field poppy seeds, sprinkled out of their ripe capsules, were once believed to give energy and foresight.
Take care not to confuse Californian poppies with the more infamous opium poppy which should not be eaten or used. This is because all of its parts, except the fully ripe seeds, are dangerous.
Rose
Both the ancient Greeks and the Romans used rose petals and hips in cooking and preserved the petals in vinegar. Rose petal tea has a calming effect and rose water has been used for centuries for skin ailments and splashed on eyes in cases of conjunctivitis. Rose hips are used in cough mixtures and boost the immune system.
Snapdragon
The snapdragon has been a much-loved garden plant since before the Middle Ages, when it was considered to be an antidote against witchcraft. Crushed, warmed flowers mixed into a little almond oil will soothe aching sprains, strains, throbbing haemorrhoids and skin rashes and redness.
A gargle for mouth ulcers was made from the flowers and a few leaves, and for concert and opera singers snapdragon tea was once considered to be the most effective remedy for an aching, tired and strained throat.
Sunflower
Sunflower oil is a familiar, versatile cooking oil and the seeds are widely eaten in baked goods and breakfast cereals, but the flowers can also be incorporated in cooking. The young, flowering buds are highly nutritious and were a favourite food of the Incas.
The buds, as well as the maturing flower petals, contain traces of many essential vitamins and minerals. All parts of the sunflower are believed to help in the formation of healthy tissue, boosting the immune system and keeping joints supple.
Tulip
Cooking with tulips dates back to the end of the 16th century, when the unopened buds were cooked with peas or finely cut beans. The petals were also sugared and eaten with syrup as a dessert. A soothing poultice of the petals was used for burns, skin rashes, insect bites and bee stings.
Water lily
In the 17th century water lily flowers were used to settle 'frantic persons' and ease pain and help heal sores. The stem, juice and leaves are excellent for treating burns, sunburn, eczema and rashes. The flower graces many a salad in gourmet cuisine the world over.
