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HerbalEGram: Volume 7, Number 3, March 2010
Herbal Apps for the iPhone® and iPod Touch®
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In a time when there seems to be an iPhone® and iPod Touch® application, or “app,” for everything, more than 100 herb-related apps have sprung up in the market. Some of these herbal apps include Herbs+, Herb Garden, Herbs & Spices, iPlant, Natural Cures, and Qpalm Herb.
Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, medical director of the National Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, began the free Natural Cures iPhone app in November 2008. He co-wrote the app’s content with his wife Laurie Teitelbaum, a nutritionist, Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) practitioner, and—as he described her—an “avid iPhoner.”
“It was my wife’s idea,” said Dr. Teitelbaum (e-mail, January 31, 2010). “The goal is to make straightforward information available to the public in easy-to-understand language, and documented in the scientific literature. We accept no advertising and no money from pharmaceutical companies or natural product companies, to keep the information objective and very credible. We decided to make it free, as part of our goal of empowering the public with information.”
Now downloaded by approximately 750,000 people, according to Dr. Teitelbaum, Natural Cures is regularly in the top 25 of the free Health and Fitness category, and often in the top 10.
The app‘s current version notes herbal recommendations along  with nutritional, lifestyle, and other treatments, mainly found under the A-Z listing of common health conditions. Some of the herbal recommendations include passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) and magnolia (Magnolia officinalis) for anxiety, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) for adrenal exhaustion, and willow (Salix alba), frankincense (Boswellia serrata), and cherry (Prunus avium) for arthritis. In the update planned for this month, Dr. Teitelbaum will add a new section containing information on his favorite 10 to 15 herbs. Natural Cures information is also available free online at www.Vitality101.com for those without an iPhone or iPod Touch.1
Jeff Lundgren of Lundgren Consulting LLC., who specializes in software and Internet development, has had a personal interest in the outdoors and survivalist techniques for many years. This led him to develop iPlant, a $1.99 app which includes information on over 300 commonly used herbs and plants, such as Latin and
common names, history, culinary uses, medicinal properties and uses, and safety warnings.
“I've used herbs and plants in a personal capacity for years as an alternative and supplement to modern medicine,” said Lundgren (e-mail, February 5, 2010). “The goal of the application was to share the love I have for herbs and plants with others via technology that I also enjoy using and developing.”
The information found in iPlant has been collected from a variety of sources, including content provided personally from Lundgren’s research.
 According to Lundgren, iPlant has been downloaded thousands of times in the last year since its release for the iPhone and iPod Touch. However, because of feedback he believes that it is mostly popular with laypeople or plant enthusiasts, and not necessarily plant professionals. Lundgren plans to release an updated version of iPlant sometime this month.
The $2.99 Herbs & Spices app was created by software developer Ganesh Thambiran at BuzzLifeApps. With a degree in biology and a high interest in botany, Thambiran includes 66 commonly used herbs and spices in his app, with each entry including information like Latin and common names, health benefits, historical information, and traditional uses. The app mainly focuses on culinary herbs and is available in the following languages (in addition to English): Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and German.
“I believe it’s important to know about Herbs and Spices since we use them in our food,” said Thambiran, adding that in addition to including more herbs and spices in the future, he also plans to add more information on each herb, such as ORAC [Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity] values, when time permits (e-mail, February 17, 2010).
Each listing appears aside a plant icon of the specific plant while each individual entry includes a larger plant picture for easy identification. According to Thambiran, he took many of the herbal photos himself, while also outsourcing a few to photographers.
More information about this app is available at www.buzzlifeapps.com.
When choosing an herbal app, a useful resource is PC World’s App Guide, which includes reviews about technological products, software, and downloads. Over 100 apps match the search criteria “herbs,” the results of which are available here.2 The iTunes App store also offers valuable information, including user ratings and reviews.
Editor’s Note: The information provided in this story is for educational purposes only and does not suggest that HerbalEGram readers use applications as a substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional. The American Botanical Council has not evaluated these products, nor does ABC endorse them or accept responsibility for the consequences of use or the content of these products.
—Kelly E. Lindner
Photo captions in order of appearance:
1) Logo for the iPlant App. Echinacea angustifolia. ©2010 Jeff Lundgren
2) The iPlant app's entry for calendula (Calendula officinalis).©2010 Jeff Lundgren
References
1. Conditions & Treatments page. Vitality 101 website. Available at http://www.endfatigue.com/natural_cures/Conditions_and_treatments.html. Accessed February 10, 2010.
2. App Guide page. PC World website. Available at http://www.pcworld.com/appguide/index.html. Accessed February 10, 2010.
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