Christina Stapley has grown and studied over 300 herbs for over 50 years. She qualified with a degree in Phytotherapy in 2004. Now retired from Practice, she teaches Pharmacognosy, Materia Medica and the History of Western Herbal Medicine at the School of Herbal Medicine in the southwest. Her early books on growing and using herbs were followed in 2021 by the two volumes of The Tree Dispensary, The Uses, History and Herbalism of European Native Trees and The Uses, History and Herbalism of Exotic Trees.

Her historical research has involved practical herb workshops making recipes spanning a 2000 year period at museums in England and America. Her latest book, A History of Plant Medicine Western Herbal Medicine from the Ancient Greeks to Modern Day was published by Aeon Books in 2024. She presently tutors historical and modern herb workshops at the Weald and Downland Living Museum and in a teaching garden in the Cotswolds.