How I use herbs - Mother of Herbs?

I was given this herb at our monthly local produce share. It had the label "tulsi?". I didn't know what tulsi was at the time, but when I googled it I found that this herb was definitely not tulsi (AKA holy basil). I was pretty keen to identify it, as I'd already sampled some of the leaf! I started flicking through my herb books until I found a picture that looked similar in Isabel Shippard's brilliant and comprehensive "How can I use herbs in my daily life?". It looks very much like Mother of Herbs (Coleus amboinicus - also Plectranthus amboinicus), however the text says that this herb can be easily confused with Dog Bane (Plectranthus caninus), but I think the leaves on my specimen are too serrated to be either of these. Another herb book mentions Coleus forskohliii and further googling reveals that there are many similar looking plants in the Coleus/ Plectranthus genus, they are all related to mint and oregano (Lamiaceae family).

How to grow Mother of Herbs
All of the Coleus genus are succulent, they don't need much water. They grow low to the ground and can be propagated from runners. I will see how this one survives in our climate, so far we have had wet weather, so I hope it will be ok through a hot dry summer. I am hoping also that this specimen will flower eventually and then I will be able to positively identify which coleus I have.

How to use Mother of Herbs

The Coleus genus has various medicinal properties:

C. forskohlii contains "forskolin", which has been found to reduce blood pressure, relax smooth muscle, stimulate hormone and digestive secretions, and reduce pressure in the eye.
C. amboinicus is used to reduce inflammation and for bronchitis and asthma

Both the leaves and root are used. The roots can be pickled. As I'm not exactly sure which species I have, I will be using it as an ornamental with a nice smell until I can positively identify what I have.

This is not the most educational edition of my herbs series, but I thought the story of trying to identify this particular herb was also of interest, and I will share the rest of the story when I learn more about it.

Do you recognise this herb? Do you use it?

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine. If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans). And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA. Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans). I know, that is a lot of beans. And then I didn't really know what to do with them! Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession. If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com. While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy their story.... -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

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