Calendula, mint, orange peel, chamomile and rosemary soaked in alcohol will soon be a tincture for treating everything from cuts to depression.


Ruth Anne Joiner of Georgia chews on an old-time remedy, kaolin, or white clay, to lessen her morning sickness during pregnancy.


Cathy Webb waters gardens of organic echinacea, valerian, St. John’s wort and sacred basil at Avena Botanicals in Rockport, Maine.


Deborah Keene-Jones digs deep for the root of a white pond lily, particularly valuable in treatment of women.


Thomas Avena battles HIV by soaking in a bath of colloidal oatmeal and herbal oil, therapeutic for both body and mind as he imagines his tumors dissolving with the oatmeal.


Siddah healer Swami Brahmananda prepares a slurry of minerals and herbs purified by grinding and heating the mixture over 100 times.—Lucknow, India


Munni Bibi, 75, stays healthy by making tea from common plants, neem and tulsi (basil) growing just outside her back door.—Kerala, India


Workers at Poonkutil Mana Psychiatric Hospital in Kerala, India, squeeze juice from water hyssop.


This tray of tar-like pills used to boost the immune system are rolled individually by workers then dried in the sun.—Delhi, India


Surendra Sindhe, 7, undergoes special traction in combination with herbal remedies that soften his bones making it possible for him to walk in the future.—Coimbator, India


Suffering from anxiety and violent behavior, a patient in a mental hospital is soothed by an Ayurvedic treatment. This cooling poultice of herbs covered with banana leaf will free him of pain and nightmares.—Kottakal, India


An expert on tropical plants, Dr. Ahmad Yahya Kostermans, dictates a lifetime of knowledge. A Japanese POW during WWII, he saved many fellow prisoners with his knowledge of medicinal plants.—Bogor, Indonesia


An herbal trading center for 2000 years is celebrated with a statue to almighty Ginseng in the main square.—Anguo, China


Herbal medicine, Qi Gong, a Chinese blend of meditation and exercise, and specialized massage, have helped diabetes patients reduce their insulin.—Beijing, China


Though there is a Baptist clinic in her village, this woman prefers the power of the “headache plant” against her skin to cure her pain.—Ogbomosho, Nigeria


Plant collectors map and gather valuable plants for the National Cancer Institute that will soon be lost to industrial mining.—Madagascar


This is the third child the Rapady family has lost to Malaria, a scourge in most Asian and African countries intensified by poverty and drug resistance.—Moranga, Madagascar


Without access to expensive drugs, malaria patients must turn to herbal remedies and massage delivered by traditional healers.—Madagascar


Dr. Jean Berthin Tida consults with a patient and her mother in a clinic over an 8 hour walk from the closest community.—Manongarivo, Madagascar


In this remote clinic, healing from forest resources is powerful and immediate. Malagasy healer, Ndronalahy, squeezes juice from a leaf for an earache remedy.


Both doctors treat Natacha, with sap from a vine. She was burned when her mother accidentally tossed scalding water on her.