For early American households, the herb garden was an all-purpose medicine chest. Herbs were used to treat apoplexy (lily of the valley), asthma (burdock, horehound), boils (onion), tuberculosis (chickweed, coltsfoot), palpitations (saffron, valerian), jaundice (speedwell, nettles, toad flax), toothache (dittander), hemorrhage (yarrow), hypochondria (mustard, viper grass), wrinkles (cowslip juice), cancers (bean-leaf juice), and various other ailments. But herbs were used for a host of other purposes as well
Early American Herb Recipes