%0 Journal Article
%T Plants, thieves, treasures – magical plants in practice
%A Frey, Ludwik
%J Modern medicine
%V 2023
%R 10.4467/12311960MN.23.002.18443
%N Volume 29 (2023) Issue 1
%P 9-34
%K legends, herbal medicine, magic, treasures, thieves
%@ 1231-1960
%D 2023
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/medycyna-nowozytna/article/rosliny-zloczyncy-skarby-rosliny-magiczne-w-praktyce
%X 
	Medicinal plants constitute a fairly large group in the world. Among them, there are many species that are used not only in medicine and herbal medicine, as a source of raw materials containing valuable active substances. According to the beliefs disseminated years ago, these are plants that, apart from their medicinal qualities, are also characterized by specifi c, unusual, non-medical properties. Thanks to this, they can be used in sui generis magical activities, usually contrary to generally accepted social norms (i.e. not always honest) or giving hope for a quick, but not risk-free, gaining of temporal goods. These are usually activities related to characteristic signs-rituals, and therefore of a ritual rather than moral or customary nature. About a dozen of such medicinal plants, occurring mainly in Poland, growing in nature and/or cultivated, which were considered magical at the same time, will be discussed in this paper.