Borage
According to John Gerard’s 1597 Herball: “Those of our time do use the flowers in salads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the mind. The leaves and flowers of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadness, dullness and melancholy, as Dioscorides and Pliny affirm. Syrup made of the flowers of Borage comfort the heart, purge melancholy and quiet the frantic and lunatic person. The leaves eaten raw engender good blood, especially in those that have been lately sick.”
I love borage for its cucumbery-tasting leaves, its happy and abundant edible flowers, and the magical way the crushed leaves can relieve the itch of bug bites. Borage is great for the skin; an oil we make from infusing the dried leaves is an important ingredient in our glow cream.