Author
Alex Tieghi-Walker
Writer
Pharmacopoeia = a stock of medicinal plants.
There are plants and trees and grasses growing in the Berkley Botanical Gardens in interesting ways, in relative peace. Across the waters from San Francisco, the valley site hosts spirals of cacti, avenues of palms, and a grove dedicated entirely to Chinese medicinal plants.
Whoever paired up the Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley is a friend of ours. The patch is a result of six months planning (and planting) back in 1986 that pieced together a colorful puzzle: it remains the only U.S. medicinal garden arranged by function group.
![1 Floom Magazine Berkeley Botanical Gardens Cchavar 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=f05359649365b2e4b3fba20df44056d2 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=b784ab55e322a3f034827535ef26112b 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=e257f76b74b713ab5a7a7525ca0f535f 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=be26f5185e839cc2f7e6527501707733 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Berkeley Botanical Gardens Cchavar 2](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=65bfb440ebcb77bef0136b13043bba0e 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=8fc485f2f7e55374635e1e57e7fd09e0 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=1a0ca1586386d54101ffd22b9e99b6fe 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=3a7fcf29f90f3142daaa08235ce206d2 400w)
If you’d been walking along San Francisco’s Embarcadero during the 1880s, you would have seen the wooden boats that nearly half a million Chinese immigrants arrived in lying abandoned in the harbor; most of these boats were broken up and used as building materials by gold prospectors, the rest were scuttled in the Golden Gate.
![1 Floom Magazine Berkeley Botanical Gardens Cchavar 4](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=dd72ceba1dfdbbc527e308ca7bd9f028 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=ff5abf97c658f1bc9b7b336a6384d66b 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=9995b378ddcc38d8c738087f4ad6f88f 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_4.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=a59ae4722d3cf09e5a47cc738e3da17d 400w)
The Chinese brought with them a fervent work ethic; they also brought with them an in-depth knowledge of a traditional medicinal practice. Tried and tested on home turf for over three millennia, Chinese herbal medicine remained somewhat margined to the immigrant communities, though recently have been growing in popularity in the West.
Among the plants outlined as effective in combatting certain ailments: ginger, ginseng, cinnamon, liquorice, salvia and rhubarb. The Native Americans, too, had discovered the healing properties of certain plants, and most modern pharmaceuticals are derived from plant-based compounds.
![1 Floom Magazine Berkeley Botanical Gardens Cchavar 5](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=99ad46f13acb771f83df87d96111ecdd 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=227bdc6e7593a12659df2c2ff48dfab5 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=0c0c69add9de42df9f33d02f7efb31d1 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_5.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=65376a2a9d6bf518e2c50b6120117807 400w)
And the magic of the garden here in Berkeley: a clear archival system—or library of medicine and mysticism—sorting the plants by specific use. There are beds of purging herbs, plants for warming the interior and eliminating cold, spiritual herbs, herbs for removing congestion... It’s not only a beautiful place to be lost, but it is also a pop-up book outlining some of the most helpful life forms and their uses on our big blue egg.
You can get to the gardens by climbing past the craftsman cottages of the university town, and let a sea of fragrant herbs tingle through your cloud-shaped walk of otherworldly plant-ish wonder.
![1 Floom Magazine Berkeley Botanical Gardens Cchavar 6](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=ccd0a9b151a668f22d3c5035d4b5fc43 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=11d620f7af926ebeb08f637bd1055272 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=596b644ba17e9085d158fc5f87efdfa2 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_berkeley_botanical_gardens_CChavar_6.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=13a3321fd51927f65d762941449c340d 400w)
Images by Carlos Chavarria @crls.chavarria