EM>The RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses is the most authoritative illustrated encyclopedia of herbs yet produced. It covers over 1 000 herbs grown world-wide for their culinary aromatic medicinal and economic uses as well as for their decorative qualities in the garden. The RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses is a companion volume to the best-selling RHS Gardeners' Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers responding to the widespread contemporary interest in herbs and the way in which they have been used since ancient times. This comprehensive reference work provides a wealth of information on herbs grown and used all over the world for gardeners herbalists and cooks alike. The extensive catalogue of colour photographs provides an identification guide which includes a number of rarely seen examples from remote corners of the globe. Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed botanical description of the plant's genus and species its growth habitat size hardiness and flowering period. Symbols show the plant's hardiness the part of the plant that is used and for what purpose. The dictionary section gives detailed information on uses of each herb from domestic applications in cooking beauty and medicine to commercial processing in the perfume and food industries. Uses in Chinese Ayurvedic and native American medicine are given and a boxed section after each genus describes how it is grown and harvested. Garden designs and planting schemes illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned artwork provide the gardener with a wealth of ideas for planting and growing herbs adaptable for traditional herb gardens and also smaller plots.