In the Landes, the monks rely on a virtuous plant

Cultivated for almost sixty years at the Notre-Dame de Maylis Abbey, this large herbaceous plant has since become the ingredient of a renowned herbal tea, to the delight of the monks of the place. But it took the clairvoyance of a visitor who, in 1952, recognized his presence on the lands of the monastery in 1952.

Local legend tells how a decoction of this plant, some time later, quickly relieved a person suffering from nephretic colic. An intuition thus took shape: and if the harvest of the Lepidium latifolium Could the economic balance of the community be participated?

Cultivated in early spring, this perennial plant is quite resistant, both cold and hot. In the Middle Ages already, the German nun of Bingen Hildegard recommended that it consume it raw for those who “have a weak heart and a sick stomach”, but also to improve sight. Depurative, antirhumatic, diuretic: its virtues are numerous.

In nature, this species is recognizable by its large deep green leaves and its small white flowers with four cross -shaped petals, which will form reddish seeds, called silicules.