Plants For A Future is a resource center for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have edible, medicinal or other uses. They practice vegan-organic permaculture with emphasis on creating an ecologically sustainable environment based largely on perennial plants.

Edible Japanese Wild Grass (above)

You can search their database of 7300 edible medicinal and useful plants. If you want to use the database at home without using the internet then you can download a copy or get it on CD-ROM for a small donation to the project.

There are many hundreds of medicinal plants that can be grown in temperate climates and there are probably a great deal more with properties as yet undiscovered.

Just to look at a few of the more common herbs:

Thyme has been shown to slow down the ageing process by maintaining the vigour of our body cells.

Sage (above) is an excellent antiseptic for treating mouth ulcers and sore throats

Camomile is a safe treatment for childrens’ stomach upsets.

Garlic contains fungicides and is used in the treatment of Candida.

Plants also provide us with fibres for making cloth, rope, paper etc. There are numerous dyes obtained from plants with which to colour our fabrics. Many plants have oil-rich seeds and these oils can be extracted when they have a variety of uses. Many of them are edible and they can also be used as lubricants, fuel, for lighting, in paints and varnishes, as a wood preservative, waterproofing etc. Check out their wonderful list of plants with other uses.

Information pulled directly from: [source]