Herbal baths are among the commonest prescriptions and every serious practitioner is a herbalist — the plant knowledge and the ritual knowledge are a single body of learning, as they are in the West African traditions Vodou descends from. Leaves are gathered and crushed into water with additions specified for the case: rum, perfume, Florida water, honey, particular flowers. The bath is poured over the body from the head downward, at a particular hour, sometimes repeated over a set number of days, and the water and residue disposed of in a specified way — at a crossroads, in a river, at a particular tree. Different recipes cool, strip, protect or attract. Haitian ethnobotany is substantial and has attracted pharmacological attention, and the practical medical function of these baths in a country with very limited healthcare provision is not incidental.