About HerbMate
A browsable library of medicinal plants, for reading rather than prescribing.
What it is
HerbMate is a library of 176 medicinal plants for people who want to read up on a herb before they talk to someone about it. Profiles give a description, the plant's listed properties and habitat, and its precautions. You can also browse herbs grouped by body part and condition, see how infusions, tinctures and capsules are prepared, compare two herbs side by side, and read 14 longer guides.
Where the interaction notes come from
The drug-interaction notes on 37 herb pages are HerbMate's summaries of public sources, chiefly NCCIH, the NIH (PubMed, LiverTox and the Office of Dietary Supplements) and Memorial Sloan Kettering's About Herbs. Each row is cited by number to the source list on that herb's page.
What HerbMate cannot do
It knows nothing about you: not the medicines you take, not whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding, not your liver, kidney or heart health. So it cannot tell you whether a herb is safe for you, and nothing on it should be read that way.
A herb listed under a condition such as angina or anaemia is not evidence that it treats that condition, and never a reason to delay or replace care from a doctor. The amounts on a preparation page describe how the preparation is made; they are not a dose chosen for you. A precaution list can be incomplete, so a missing warning does not mean a herb is harmless, and a medicine missing from an interaction list has not been shown to be safe with that herb. Before taking any herb, especially alongside a prescription, ask a pharmacist or doctor. The disclaimer sets this out in full.
Who runs it
HerbMate is built and kept up by one independent developer, who also runs PantrySwap, Matcha Almanac, FiberTally and ProteinTally. The guides appear under the HerbMate name with no individual byline, and the author in their structured data is HerbMate, an organization. No herbalist, clinician or medical credential is claimed. Dates on guides follow their text: each marks the latest change to the words.
Contact
Questions, corrections or feedback: write to [email protected] or use the contact form.