In today’s article we are led through Hvar’s flora by a “walking encyclopedia”, is a man who has been using medicinal herbs for more than half a century to help his neighbors and islanders in preventing various physical discomforts.

In numerous conversations with a local pharmacist who has collected a fair share of wisdom in his 86 years, and still with a special enthusiasm brews a diverse variety of medical therapies from wild grasses and plants, we discover the most notable details of the long history of his work.

Mr. Vlade Lušić Bulić, more familiar to us as barba Vlade, has been carrying a love towards medicinal herbs ever since childhood, which in the present day has lost its significance among younger generations.

With a special longing, he emphasizes the time before weed and Aleppo pine trees covered the hills of the island. Ever since olden times, his cabinets have held oils, balms and various extracts that have helped many of our islanders.

With the hidden wild herbs we still find on the hills above the central part of the island, we enter his pharmacy to get some tips on the benefits that come out of these herbs.

It is with pleasure that he reveals the particularities hidden in the essential oils made from each of these herbs, and ennobles our island scrapbook with his guidance.

Although many of the old crafts that Barba Vlado longs for, just like many islanders who enjoyed the agricultural benefits before today’s mass tourism occurred, lost their significance, he is aware of the fact that young people follow the trend imposed by tourism with its arrival.

In a multi-lingual conversation with our island pharmacist and his wife, Margarit, we collected a number of facts which we, however, were unable to put together in the newly-structured articles of our Internet pages.

With sincere gratitude, we leave our local pharmacy and end today’s educational session in the small town of Vrbanj.