In Greek myth. Panacea (Panakeia) was one of the daughters of Asclepius (Asklepios, Aesculapius), the god of medicine, and his wife Epione. She and her sisters represent different aspects of the healer’s art - Aceso (the healing process), Aglaea (the glow of good health), Hygieia (cleanliness), Iaso (recuperation), and Panacea herself (the universal remedy). She is traditionally depicted using a poultice or potion as a cure-all, hence the figurative use of panacea to mean something which can solve any problem.
Throughout history and cultures, many herbs and concoctions have been touted as cure-alls; Carl Linnaeus placed the ginseng species in the genus Panax, meaning all-healing, due to their wide use in Chinese medicine. Many species of Valerian, Betony, and the Prunella genus of Mentheae (mint plants) have colloquial names such as all-heal, self-heal, and woundwort.
Miraculous herbs also appear in fiction and myth. In JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Athelas (Kingsfoil, or Asëa Aranion) is a sovereign specific used by Aragorn to slow the progression of Frodo’s wound from the Nazgûl. David & Leigh Eddings’s Belgariad has Garion accidentally create a heal-all when making a flower for his cousin, Adara’s Rose. In the Odyssey, Hermes gives Odysseus the herb Moly to protect him from Circe, a story which led Linnaeus to name the yellow garlic Allium moly.
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