The word gemmotherapy comes from the Latin "gemmae", which means both bud and precious stone, which is an allusion to the apparent stability of the buds in winter as well as to their preciousness.

Gemmotherapy is a therapeutic practice invented by the Belgian doctor Pol Henry who uses growing plant embryonic tissues such as young shoots, buds and rootlets, prepared by maceration in a mixture of water, glycerin and alcohol to obtain an extract called "glycerine macerate". The meristem (plant tissue made up of rapidly dividing cells that is the growth zone of plants) contains “informative energy” that can heal.

The buds have certain therapeutic properties which are superior to those of the various parts of the mature plant. The bud, being an embryo, would carry with it the development potential of the plant, much as if it were at the same time the roots, the stems, the leaves, the flowers and the fruits. It also contains high concentrations of active elements like hormones, trace elements, vitamins, minerals, etc.

The followers of gemmotherapy speak of the “wholeness” of the bud. Embryonic tissue is said to offer not only a higher content of active compounds, but a much wider spectrum of action than any part of the plant taken in isolation.

For example, the hawthorn bud, a plant frequently used in gemmotherapy, has both the properties of the fruit (action on the heart muscle) and the flower (action on the heart rate). Even more evocative, the linden bud would combine the calming virtues associated with the flower of this tree, and the purifying and diuretic properties of the sapwood, the soft and whitish part that forms each year between the hardwood and the bark.