A subjective overview of plants, which – according to both Eastern and Western traditions – can help us enjoy our youth longer.

Youth is obviously neither a special achievement nor a lucky coincidence, wrote the philosopher and historian Leszek Kołakowski, “[…] and it isn’t something to be acquired, won, or regained, even though various treatments are meant to restore youth.” While over-reliance on such treatments should be avoided, the inevitability of ageing shouldn’t discourage us from searching for solutions that will help us stay in good shape, both physically and mentally. The body does age, but it’s also endowed with regenerative capacity, which can be well supported by plants, among other things.

Let’s first take a look at our European garden.

Archangelic youth

Garden angelica – Angelica archangelica, Archangelica officinalis – is a plant associated with heaven and its inhabitants. Has anyone seen an old angel? Legend has it that some monk was once visited by the winged archangel Gabriel himself (or Rafael, according to some versions), who revealed the properties of a plant considered a remedy for the many plagues that shook mediaeval Europe. The