Botany in a Day Botany in a Day Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification is a book by Thomas J. Elpel published by HOPS Press, LLC. The book emphasizes family characteristics for plant identification. Related plants typically have similar floral features and often similar uses. For example, plants of the mustard family (Brassicaceae) have four petals with six stamens (4 tall, 2 short), and most or all of the 3,200 species are considered edible. The book is used as a text at universities, high schools, and herbal schools across North America. It is also recommended as a resource for the
Astrological botany Virgo. Astrological botany was often used in conjunction with the doctrine of signatures, which held that the physical form of a plant reflected its medicinal use. In the words of Agnes Arber, England became "badly infected" with astrological botany during the 17th century, when its most "notorious" practitioner was Nicholas Culpeper. Astrological botany Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the