A lovely group of Urban Herbies braved the weather today and joined me for a herb walk in the centre of Amsterdam. Writing my book has begun so the walk was able to help me to identify which of the Urban herbs I already know are also growing happily in the most pressured city centre habitats. We found lots of useful and tasty herbs. Here’s a brief summary of the plants we found and a few others which I found en route to the walk.

Fat hen (Chenopodium album) NL: Melganzenvoet

Geranium species.

Hollyhocks NL: Stockroos

A tiny Rosebay Willow herb (Epilobium angustifolium) NL: Wilgenroosje.

Chickweed (Stellaria media) NL: Vogelmuur

Probably Russian Comfrey (Symphytum uplandicum) Smeerwortel

German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) Echte kamille This is the type used in commercial Chamomille tea.

Pellitory of the wall (Parietaria officinalis) NL: Groot Glaskruid. I found this on Kerkstraat before the walk. I am delighted to find this as it is hard to find elsewhere. Pennsylvania Pellitory grows abundantly in Amsterdam parks but this species is medicinally superior.

St. John’s / St Joan’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) Sint Janskruid

Some of today’s group looking at Catnip (Nepta sp.) Kattenkruid, Yew (Taxus baccata) and Geranium.

Mint (Mentha sp.) NL: Munt

Plantain (Plantago major) Wegbreed

Knot grass (Polygonum sp.) Varkensgras (edible but not to my liking)

We found many other herbs including Valerian, Lime…