Materia Medica is the core of herbal medicine study and essential to understanding herbs and their healing properties.

Materia Medica means ‘a collection of knowledge about the therapeutic properties of substances for healing’, in this instance, herbs. We will be collecting knowledge about herbs and it will form an ongoing project throughout your apprenticeship.

Many herbal books will have Materia Medica sections and they will often use similar headings, sometimes it will be called a monograph.

Throughout the course there will be an ongoing project of learning Materia Medica. The project allows you to look in depth at a selection of medicinal plants and add your results to your own ongoing body of collected knowledge on plants. While some plants will be introduced through the provided herb monographs, others will be given for self-study.

Materia Medica is the largest module and so you should plan to tackle it early.