RASPBERRY / Rubus idaea

An ever popular and healthy fruit. Even to dream of them was reckoned a good sign, for it meant success in all things, happiness in marriage, and the like (Gordon. 1985). Raspberry leaves were used in the same way as those of bramble, for sore throats and stomach upsets. “The leaves of Raspis may be used for want of Bramble leaves in gargles …”(Parkinson. 1629). The leaves, boiled with glycerine and the juice drunk, is an Irish remedy for thrush (Maloney), and raspberry leaf tea was an old remedy for relieving morning sickness; it was also said to help labour, in fact it is a general country drink taken to ensure easy childbirth. It should be started, so it is said, three months before the birth is due, and taken 2 or 3 times a week (Page. 1978; Beith). Powdered leaves, in tablet form, can be bought – they help relaxation in childbirth, so they say, and the fruit will have the same effect. Gerard wrote that “the fruit is good to be given to those that have weake or queasie stomackes”, something that had already appeared in Langham. Distilled raspberry water was given in Scotland as a cooling drink to feverish patients (Beith). Then there is raspberry vinegar, made by pouring vinegar repeatedly over successive quantities of the fresh fruit – this was at one time a favourite sore throat medicine (Fernie).

RAGGED ROBIN

(Lychnis flos-cuculi) Surprisingly, in view of the relatively large number of local names, Ragged Robin has virtually no associations in folklore or folk medicine. “Ragged” in the common name refers to the typically tattered appearance of the flowers. The other part of the name, Robin, is the diminutive of Robert, and much used in earlier times in wild flower and bird names. So for Ragged Robin we can find Cock Robin and Red Robin, both from Somerset (Macmillan, Grigson); from Cumbria there is Rough Robin, and, more widespread, Robin Hood. Bobbin Joan, from Devonshire, (Tynan & Maitland) is probably connected with this series of names, though the name itself has other connotations, notably with the bobbinshape of the spadix of Cuckoo-pint. “Ragged” names include Ragged Jacks (Elworthy. 1888), Ragged Urchin, from Devon, or Ragged Willie, fro Shetland (Grigson), and so on. Thunder Flower is recorded from Yorkshire, and is reminiscent of the Red Poppy, with all the superstitions attached to that plant, and none for this.

MIDSUMMER MEN

A name given to ORPINE (Sedum telephium), especially when associated with the Midsummer Eve divinations that involved this plant (for which see ORPINE).

RAMPION BELLFLOWER / Campanula rapunculus

Not a British native, but established here and there, usually as an escape. The specific name, rapunculus, means a little turnip, and the roots are quite edible, either raw, or sliced in salads, or cooked, when they taste rather like parsnips.

The heroine of one of Grimm’s tales is named Rapunzel, called after the herb, and the tale is woven round the theft of Rampion roots, and there is a Calabrian legend of a village girl who gathered a root in a field and found that the hole left led down to a place in the depths of the earth (Rohde). But this is not a lucky plant, for it is a funeral root, and in Italy there was a supersition that rampion among children gives them a quarrelsome disposition, and may even lead to murder. So, to dream of it is a sign of an impending quarrel (Folkard).

MIGNONETTE

i.e., WILD MIGNONETTE (Reseda lutea) The name is the diminutive of French mignon, darling. The name of endearment was given to the plant by Lord Bateman in 1742. In the Oise district of France, mignonette put over a girl’s door on May Day “annonce une rupture. Reseda, je te laisse là” (Sebillot). On the other hand, French brides believed that mignonette in their bouquet will hold a husband’s affection (M Baker. 1979).

VIRGINIAN SKULLCAP

VIRGINIAN SKULLCAP has been called Maddog, or Mad-dog Herb (House, Lloyd), for it was used to treat the condition, after a Dr van der Veer experimented with it in 1772 (Weiner). Hoosier home medicine uses ELECAMPANE. The roots have to be boiled in a pint of milk down to half a pint, and the patient has to take a third of the result every other morning, and eat no food until 4 pm on those days. It is effective, they claim, provided it is started withing 24 hours of the accident (Tyler).

MEXICAN POPPY / Argemone mexicana

The seeds are used as a narcotic in several areas of northern Mexico (Emboden. 1979), and so they are in East Africa as well. They are described as producing a degree of intoxication at least as great as cannabis (Raymond). The yellow latex is sometimes used for removing warts (Gooding, Loveless & Proctor), and the juice is also used in the treatment of jaundice (doctrine of signatures – yellow juice), dropsy and as a cure for eye diseases (Chopra, Badhwar & Ghosh). It is worth noting that the generic name, Argemone, is derived from argema, the Greek word for cataract, and the plant’s yellow latex was reported to soothe the condition (Whittle & Cook).

RABIES

In Glamorgan, the roots and leaves of BUCK’S HORN PLANTAIN used to be made into a decoction, sweetened with honey, and given as a cure for hydrophobia (Trevelyan). Sir John Hill had heard of this, but gave it no credit: “it is said also to be a remedy against the bite of a mad dog, but this is idle and groundless”. RIBWORT PLANTAIN was given for hydrophobia in Ireland (Denham) (it was being prescribed for snakebite in the Anglo-Saxon version of Apuleius). In Ireland, BOX leaves were used as a remedy (Wood-Martin); compare this with the 14th century recipe: “For bytyngge of a wood hound. Take the seed of box, and stampe it with holy watyr, and gif it hym to drynke” (Henslow). Wood-Martin records the use in Ireland of WILD ANGELICA as a cure for hydrophobia, probably only as an inheritance from its august relative, ARCHANGEL. BLACKCURRANTS were used in Ireland for the disease (Wood-Martin). A Russian cure uses CYPRESS SPURGE. It had to be gathered in May and September, during the first days of the full moon, and then it was dried and powdered. Anyone bitten by a suspected rabid animal was given a preventive dose of 5 grams in half a glass of some drink or other (Kourennoff). Another Russian folk remedy used DYER’S GREENWEED for the task, so it is said (Pratt)

MIGRAINE

It is claimed that the condition can be allayed by holding a freshly cut slice of raw POTATO to the temples (R B Browne). BAY berries, too, at least according to Gerard, “stamped with a little Scammonie and saffron, and labored in a mortar with vinegar and oile of Roses to the form of a liniment, and applied to the temples and fore part of the head, do greatly ease the pain of the megrim”, and he also advised “the juice of the leaves and roots” of DAISY to help “the megrim”. CAMOMILE tea will help, both for migraine and any sort of headache (Schauenberg & Paris), and PELLITORY-OF-SPAIN was also used once. A leechdom from a 15th century collection advises sufferers to “take pellitory of Spain, and stone-scar [lichen] and hold long between thy teeth on the sore side; and chew it and it will run to water” (Dawson. 1934). The root of STINKING IRIS has the reputation of being a painkiller, and a migraine remedy (Conway).

ASAFOETIDA / Ferula assa-foetida

To prevent colds, tie a small bag of it round the neck. Sometimes the asafoetida would be soaked in camphor first (Stout). Tied round a baby’s neck, it will help it to cut teeth without pain. “Wear asafoetida to keep the itch away” (Stout) – or to keep diphtheria away – or cure whooping cough – or, in Maryland, for hysteria (Whitney & Bullock). German Hexenbänner used to advise people who thought they were bewitched to burn asafoetida all night in every room of the house, with doors and windows shut. The witch would be bound to visit the house within three days (J Simpson. 1996)

MARSH GENTIAN / Gentiana pneumonanthe

The flowers are used to make a blue dye (Usher), and it has the usual gentian medicinal uses, though the early ones are a bit unusual. Gerard, for instance, reported that “the later Physicians hold it to be effectual against pestilential diseases, and the bitings and stingings of venomous beasts”. One of the Saxon leechdoms, translated by Cockayne, advised the use of this plant (under the name ‘marsh maregall’) if “a worm eat the hand”. The patient was required to “boil marsh maregall, red nettle, dock, … in cow’s butter. Then shake three parts of salt on. Shake up, and smear therewith. Lather with soap at night”.

ARTERIOSCLEROSIS

GARLIC is still prescribed for the condition, though its virtues seem to lie in reducing blood pressure, reports of which are recorded from Ireland, and Alabama. A decoction of HAWS , taken instead of tea or coffee is used for high blood pressure (Kourennoff) for it helps to prevent arteriosclerosis. In any case, haws in various preparations have been prescribed for angina pectoris, particularly in Russian folk medicine (Kourennoff), and in Germany it is claimed to be the only effective cure for the condition. Herbalists, though, still maintain that HAZEL nuts improve the condition of the heart, and prevent hardening of the arteries (Conway). Like true garlic, the wild garlic (or RAMSONS) is prescribed by herbalists as a tea made from the dried leaves, or by eating the fresh leaves, for this complaint (Flück). Herbalists still use DAISIES for improving the circulation. They will keep the artery walls soft and flexible (Conway), and GLOBE ARTICHOKE has been used, too (Schauenberg & Paris). LIMEFLOWER tea, good for many conditions, is said to be good for arteriosclerosis, too, for it thins the blood, and so improves the circulation (M Evans). The dose is given as one cupful, four times a day, between meals. See also HYPERTENSION.

MARBLES VINE / Dioclea reflexa

Perhaps of American origin, but it grows in West Africa on sandbanks or seashore, and the seeds are used by children all over the area in a game played like marbles (Dalziel), hence the common name.

ARNICA / Arnica montana

The tincture, in use till recently, but now replaced by a much safer cream, is applied to whole chilblains, and to sprains and bruises, hence its name “tumbler’s heal-all” (Thomson. 1978). Internal use of the tincture would almost certainly be lethal, but there are a number of homeopathic uses, in minute doses, for shock, for example (M Evans). In folk medicine, it has even been used as an abortive (Schauenberg & Paris), and a decoction of ivy and arnica is used in the Balkans for skin diseases (Kemp). One of the names for the plant is Mountain Tobacco. The leaves, or indeed all parts, can be used to make a tobacco substitute, known in France as tabac des savoyards, tabac des Vosges, or herbe aux prêcheurs (Sanecki). One of the French names can be translated as Sneezewort, for the flowers, if smelt when freshly crushed, will certainly cause a sneezing fit (Palaiseul).

MARGUERITE

sometimes Herb Margaret (Dyer. 1889), common names for the DAISY, obviously a St Margaret, but which one? There was a St Margaret of Antioch, an unlikely choice, or St Margaret of Cortona, or yet another Margaret, St Margaret of Valois. Actually, St Margaret of Cortona is the likeliest candidate, for her day, 22 February, used to be reckoned as the first day of spring (Jones-Baker. 1974), and that probably is the reason for the name. But there is another possibility: the French word marguerite means a pearl (the colour of the flower? (Skinner) ).

APHRODISIACS

Many plants have been claimed as such, upon what grounds beggars the imagination. Who, for instance, would have thought that PURSLANE (Haining), or NETTLE ever enjoyed such a reputation, even as a flagellant? (Leyel. 1937). The seeds, so it was claimed, powerfully stimulate the sexual functions, and they figured, too, in a Greek remedy for impotence, when an ointment was made from the roots of narcissus with the seeds of nettle or anise (Simons). On the other hand, “to avoid lechery, take nettle-seed and bray it in a mortar with pepper and temper it with honey or with wine, and it shall destroy it …” (Dawson). In other words, exactly the opposite of the aphrodisiac claim. Another unlikely claimant, also ambivalent, is LETTUCE. The Romans certainly thought of it as promoting sexual potency (R L Brown), and the Akan belief, from West Africa, was that Min, a sky fertility god, was associated with a plant assumed to be some kind of lettuce, believed to stimulate procreation. The reason is that the juice of some of the lettuces is milky, resembling either, in the female aspect, the flow of milk, or in the male aspect, semen (Meyerowitz). By Gerard’s time, he asserts that the juice “cooleth and quencheth the naturall seed if it be too much used …”. Women were wary of lettuce, for it would cause barrennness, so an old superstition runs. It probably arose because it was thought that the plant itself was sterile (M Baker.1980). It is recorded that women in Richmond, Surrey, would carefully count the lettuce in the garden, for too many would make them sterile (R L Brown), but what the maximum acceptable number was is not revealed.

CYCLAMEN was reckoned aphrodisiac, a reputation that it enjoyed since ancient times. In fact, it became the very symbol of voluptuousness (Haig). Gerard repeated the belief, and recommended that the root should be “beaten and made up into trochisches, or little flat cakes”, when “it is reported to be a good amorous medicine to make one in love, if it be inwardly taken”. GARLIC in this category is difficult to understand. Chaucer’s Somnour, who was “lecherous as a sparwe”, was particularly fond of it: “Wel loved he garleek, onyons and eek lekes”. And it had the same reputation in Jewish folklore (Rappoport). PARSLEY wine had this reputation, too (Baker. 1977), but a good many of the superstitions pertaining to this herb are connected with conception and childbirth – “sow parsley, sow babies” and so on. Surely it was nothing more than sympathetic magic that led Gerard to recommend ASH seeds to “… stirre up bodily luste specially being poudered with nutmegs and drunke”. WALNUT is mentioned as an aphrodisiac in Piers Plowman, probably on the strength of its being an ancient symbol of marriage, the nuts being of two halves (I B Jones). NUTMEGS were reckoned to be aphrodisiac at one time, standard ingredients in love potions, and widely used. They still are, apparently, for Yemeni men take them even now to enhance their potency (Furst). Even TOBACCO leaves were thought at one time to be aphrodisiac (Brongers), and in 16th and 17th century Europe, potions for perennial youth were made from it, and in medieval times DEADLY NIGHTSHADE was included, for hallucinations caused by drugs derived from this very poisonous plant could take on a sexual tone. Large doses are liable to result in irresponsible sexual behaviour, hence the aphrodisiac tag (Rawcliffe).

At least with CUCKOO-PINT the reason is obvious enough. Its method of growth, the spadix in the spathe, stood for copulation. This is the reason for all the male + female names, and for the sexual overtones in a lot of others. The ‘pint’ of Cuckoo-pint is a shortening of pintel, meaning penis; a glance at the plant will show why. Recent name coinage carries on the theme, for Mabey.1998 has recorded Willy Lily, as ribald as any of the older ones. Even SUMMER SAVORY (or JASMINE (Haining) ), was claimed as an aphrodisiac, but that belief rested on the derivation of the generic name, Satureia, which some thought was from ‘satyr’ (Palaiseul). Leland said that VERVAIN was a plant of Venus. In other words, it was used as an aphrodisiac, or as an ingredient in some kind of love philtre (Folkard). Lyte recommended

WILD SAGE seeds drunk with wine, and so did Culpeper. HOGWEED is another unlikely candidate for inclusion here, but, so it is claimed, it has been shown to have a distinct aphrodisiac effect (Gerard). Even LOVAGE had this reputation, surely only as a result of misunderstanding the name, for Lovage has nothing to do with love. TOMATOES, too, owed a one-time reputation of being aphrodisiac to etymological confusion. The original Italian name was pomo dei mori (apple of the Moors), and this later became pomo d’ore (hence Gerard’s Gold-apples). It was introduced to France as an aphrodisiac, and the French mis-spelled its name as pomme d’amour. So the tomato eventually reached England under the name pome amoris – love-apple, which name went back to America with the colonists (Lehner & Lehner). VALERIAN also was supposed to be aphrodisiac (Haining), and there is a record of Welsh girls hiding a piece of it in their girdles, or inside their bodices, to hold a man’s attention (Trevelyan).

PANSIES were once thought to be aphrodisiac. Shakespeare, of course, knew this. Oberon’s instructions to Puck were to put a pansy on the eyes of Titania. And the plant was dedicated to St Valentine; all this accounts for the numerous “love” names, of the Jump-up-and-kiss-me type (see Watts. 2000), including the one given by Shakespeare – Cupid’s Flower. On the priciple of homeopathic magic, that which causes love will also cure it, or the result of it. That was why it was prescribed for venereal disease. Gerard noted the belief, and prescribed “the distilled water of the herbe or floures given to drinke for ten or more daies together … (it) doth wonderfully ease the paines of the French disease, and cureth the same…”. Culpeper too regarded it as “an excellent cure for the French disease, the herb being a gallant Antivenerean”, the latter remark being contrary to the accepted belief of his time. But such a hopeless idea as pansy being aphrodisiac must be reflected in the best-known of the “love” names – Love-in-idleness, for that can only mean Love-in-vain, a name that is actually recorded in Somerset (Grigson. 1955).

Who would ever have thought of POTATOES as aphrodisiacs? But Shakespeare was only echoing popular belief when he had Falstaff say: “Let the sky rain Potatoes … and hail Kissing-comfits, and snow Eringoes”. Almost certainly he was referring to sweet potatoes, but no matter, for the idea lingered after the introduction of our potato, and all because of a fundamental error. Being a tuber, it was mistaken by the Spanish who first came across both the potato (papa) and sweet potato (batata), for a truffle, and the truffle was the trufa, eventually meaning testicle, and so an aphrodisiac (Wasson). The other Spanish term for the truffle was turma de tierra, even more explicitly ‘earth testicle’. In the same way, the testicle-suggesting tubers of EARLY PURPLE ORCHID ensured that the root would be regarded as aphrodisiac, the old tuber being discarded, and the new one used. It would be dried, ground, and secretly administered as a potion (Anson). Another orchid with the same reputation, among the American Indians, was FROG ORCHID (Yarnell). Similarly, a root with that reputation was that of SEA HOLLY, preserved in sugar, and known as Kissing Comfits, as mentioned above, in Falstaff ’s speech (see KISSING COMFITS). Even WILLOW was once credited with being an aphrodisiac – “spring water in which willow seeds have been steeped was strongly recommended in England as an aphrodisiac, but with the caveat that he who drinks it will have no sons, and only barren daughters” (Boland. 1977). GLOBE ARTICHOKE has to be included. As Andrew Boorde had it, “they doth increase nature, and dothe provoke a man to veneryous actes”.

Among African examples, the Zezuru chewed the roots of MIMOSA THORN (Acacia karroo) as an aphrodisiac (Palgrave & Palgrave), and in Malawi, the leaves of CATCHTHORN (Zizyphus abyssinica) are chewed for the effect (Palgrave & Palgrave). CORIANDER seed was one of the many plants supposed to be aphrodisiac. It is mentioned as such in the Thousand and one Nights. Albertus Magnus (De virtutabis herbarum) includes it among the ingredients of a love potion. SESAME seed, soaked in sparrow’s eggs, and cooked in milk, also bore this reputation, and so did GINSENG. The name is Chinese, Jin-chen, meaning man-like, a reference to the root, which, like those of mandrake, was taken to be a representation of the human form, and it was this supposed resemblance that resulted in the doctrine of signatures stating that the plant healed all parts of the body (W A R Thomson. 1976). The more closely the root resembled the human body, the more valuable it was considered, and well-formed examples were literally worth their weight in gold as an aphrodisiac (Schery; Simons). It was the the Dutch who brought the root to Europe, in 1610, and its reputation as an aphrodisiac came with it. The court of Louis XIV in particular seemed to value this reputation (Hohn). AMBOYNA WOOD (Pterocarpus indicus) once had this sort of reputation, or at least was used as a man-attracting charm (C J S Thompson. 1897), as was PATCHOULI perfume, too (Schery). MANDRAKE was held to have aphrodisiac as well as narcotic virtues. Theophrastus, in the 4th century BC, recommended the root, scraped and soaked in vinegar, for the purpose (Simons). But the plant was perhaps better known as an aid to conception, and to put an end to barren-ness, even independently of sexual intercourse. 14-16, in which it is said that Rachel bargained for the mandrake with her sister Leah (by giving up her husband to her). She sunsequently bore her first-born, Joseph, though she had previously been barren (see Hartland. 1909). Mandrake’s associates in British flora, BLACK BRYONY and WHITE BRYONY, have inherited the aphrodisiac beliefs, the former, according to East Anglian farm horsemen, benefiting both man and horse (G E Evans. 1966). CARDAMOM has long been famous as an aphrodisiac, and it has been suggested that the practice of blending coffee with cardamom, still current, it seems, in Saudi Arabia, is that the cardamom would eliminate the bad effects of drinking the coffee (Swahn).

Apparently SAFFRON, like coca, enjoyed in the Aztec court the reputation of being an aphrodisiac (De Ropp). However unlikely that may sound, there are comparable beliefs in the Old World – see Leland. 1891: “Eos. the goddess of the Aurora, was called the one with the saffron garment. Therefore the public women wore a yellow robe”. There is a doubtful looking observation that Rorie made, when he claimed that an infusion of Deutzia gracilis was taken as an aphrodisiac in Scotland (Rorie. 1994).

MALARIA

In Africa, it is common to see hedges of NEEM TREE (Melia indica) grown close to houses, because of its reputation as a cure for malaria (Sofowora). In the Balkans, it was dealt with by steeping SAGE leaves and stems in brandy, and then straining it off (Kemp). OPIUM POPPY, and opium itself, used to be the standard medicine for malaria, or ague, as it was called, in the Fen country of England. Doctors said that it had more effect than quinine (V G Hatfield. 1994). Every Fenland garden had a patch of these poppies growing, and “Poppy tea”, made from the seeds, was a general fever remedy there. BUCKBEAN has been used for the complaint, perhaps doctrine of signatures, for this plant prefers wet, marshy ground. Hill, in the mid-18th century, mentions this use for the dried leaves, and it also crops up in Russian domestic medicine. Four or five tablespoonfuls of the dried herb in a gallon of vodka, kept for two weeks, and one small wineglassful to be taken daily (Kourennoff). Presumably, the fact that Buckbean is a sedative would help.

In Sierra Leone, the leaf of a BAOBAB is used as a prophylactic against the disease (Emboden. 1974), and in central Africa, a decoction of BARWOOD (Pterocarpus angolensis) root is used to cure, not only malaria, but also blackwater fever (Palgrave).

ALOPECIA

MAIDENHAIR FERN has been used to stop the hair falling out, a use stemming from the legend that the hair of Venus (capillus-veneris) was dry when the goddess came out of the sea, since when the fern has been used in hair lotions, particularly for lotions to prevent the hair from going out of curl on damp days. From there it is but a short step for the doctrine of signatures to ensure that it should be used for alopecia. It is the ashes of the fern, mixed with olive oil and vinegar, that are used (Leyel. 1937). SOUTHERNWOOD had a similar reputation. See Gerard’s prescription “the ashes of burnt Southernwood, with some kind of oyle that is of thin parts … cure the pilling of the hairs of the head, and make the beard to grow quickly”. A cap of IVY-leaves worn on the head was supposed to stop the hair falling out (Leather), or to make it grow again when illness had caused it to fall. Gerard claimed that a gall from a DOG ROSE, stamped with honey and ashes “causeth haires to grow which are fallen through the disease called Alopecia, or the Foxes Evill”.

Alopecurus myosuroides > HUNGRY GRASS

Alopecurus pratensis > FOXTAIL, i.e., MEADOW FOXTAIL

Althaea rosea > HOLLYHOCK

MANNA SEEDS

In some parts of Europe, and in America, the seeds of FLOTE GRASS (Glyceria fluitans) used to be collected and sold as “manna seeds” (hence the American name for the plant, Mannagrass (Douglas) ), for making puddings and gruel. It was even cultivated here and there for the purpose (C P Johnson).

BASKETRY

THREE-LEAF SUMACH (Rhus trilobata) was used more extensively for basketry than any other plant except willow. American Indian groups like the Navajo and Apache always used the twigs, while the Zuñi reserved them for the very best baskets, while the Navajo made their sacred baskets from them. The peeled branches were used for both warp and weft; for sewing materials the branch was usually split into three strips. The bark and brittle tissue next to the pith would be removed, leaving a flat, tough strand. It was used, too, to produce a black dye, both for baskets, and for leather.
Bassia latifolia > MAHUA

MALABAR NUT / Adhatoda vasica

An Indian plant, but long cultivated in the tropics, and much used as a cough reliever and dilator of the bronchial tubes. A synthetic derivative of the active principles was put on the market under the name of bromhexine (Thomson. 1976). The plant is said, too, to be insecticidal, and that it has antiseptic properties (L M Perry).

MALE FERN / Dryopteris filix-mas

After bracken, this is the bestknown fern inBritain, widespread and common in woods and hedgerows. The Lucky Hand, or St John’s Hand (so called because it had to be prepared on St John’s, or Midsummer, Eve), is made from the root of Male Fern, to protect a house from fire. When it was dug up, all but five of the unrolled fronds were cut away, so that what remained looked like a gnarled hand with hooked fingers. It was then smoked and hardened in one of the Midsummer bonfires, and then hidden away in some corner of the house. As long as it stayed there, the house would be safe from fire and a good many other perils (Hole. 1977). The young fronds, too, were reckoned to be a protection against sorcery (Gordon. 1985).

The root had other, more genuine, uses, for it served as a vermifuge. In the 19th century, oil of fern, made from this plant, could be bought to do the job (C P Johnson). The root was apparently marketed in the 18th century by a Madame Noufleen “as a secret nostrum”, for the cure of tapeworm. After he had paid a lot of money to buy it, Louis XV and his physicians discovered that it had been used ever since Galen’s time (Paris). But, though used quite a lot in folk medicine, the roots are poisonous, and can even be fatal (Tampion). Perhaps that is why the dried leaves are used in Ireland for the purpose (Maloney). Although the root is occasionally used in tincture in homeopathic medicine, to treat septic wounds, ulcers and varicose veins, the chief use these days is in veterinary practice, for expelling tapeworms (Wickham).

MAHUA / Bassia latifolia

An Indian tree, known also as Butter Tree (Coon). When the flowers fall to the ground
in April and May, they are eaten by the indigenous people. In anticipation, they may burn the ground under the trees, to make it easier to pick them up. Some they eat fresh, others they dry, boil and ferment, and, so it seems, now distil in a simple still consisting of two pots and a bamboo tube. The Gonds, or Konds, also distil a very strong liquor, “something resembling Irish whisky” (Chopra, Badhwar & Ghosh) from the flowers, a drink important enough to figure in their mythology (Fürer-Haimendorff). But the tree has an importance for them unrelated to the drink, for this is the Kor tree, by the side of which funerary rites are performed. It is the tree of the dead, and as such the rites there are the final ones in mortuary ceremonies (Fürer-Haimendorff). The Gonds hung the dead bodies of their relatives on a branch of this tree before burying them (Upadhyaya).

MAIDENHAIR FERN / Adiantum capillus-veneris

Adiantum is from a Greek word meaning unmoistened, because the fern has the property of repelling moisture, a peculiarity that was attributed to the hair of Venus (capillusveneris), who when she rose from the sea came out with dry hair. So, ever since these legends arose, it has been used in hair lotions, and particularly in lotions to prevent the hair going out of curl on damp days. The doctrine of signatures ensured that it should be used for alopecia; it is the ashes of the fern, mixed with olive oil and vinegar, that are used (Leyel. 1937). It was used too for lung complaints, like coughs and breathing difficulties, and it was also recommended for jaundice and swollen joints (Addison. 1985). In Brazilian belief, maidenhair fern will wilt if looked at by by the victim of the evil eye (P V A Williams)

MAIDENS’ GARLANDS

It was the custom in parts of England for a young girl to carry a wreath of white roses before the coffin of a virgin. The wreath would be hung in church after the funeral, above the seat that she had used during her life, till the blooms faded. But if the wreath was made with artificial flowers, when it is known as a “maiden’s garland”, it could be kept in church for a long time. The church at Abbot’s Ann, in Hampshire, has its walls hung with these “maidens’ garlands” of paper or linen roses; the earliest of them dates from 1716 (Mayhew).

MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE / Catheranthus roseus

This is an important plant, which has been used in cancer research, particularly
with regard to leukemia in children. But apart from that, it brings good luck to a house in Haiti, where it is used for hypertension (F Huxley), as it also is in Chinese medicine (Chinese medicinal herbs of Hong Kong. Vol 3). It was noted during medical research that a side effect of its use was euphoria and hallucinations. When this became generally known, there was an outbreak of Catheranthus smoking in Miami, where it grows like a weed. But the side effects of smoking it are pretty severe (Emboden. 1979).

WILD SAGE

(Salvia horminoides) In the Cotswolds, it is said to be a legacy of the Roman occupation of Britain. The soldiers, they say, dropped the seed as they marched across the country. In proof of this, country people will point out that it often flourishes along the line of old Roman roads (Briggs. 1974). It is a true native, though, even if found only locally, but it can be quite frequent in grassy places.

The seed drunk with wine was reckoned to be aphrodisiac, a view to which Culpeper subscribed, but there were less recondite uses in medicine. A decoction, for instance, was used in Lincolnshire for sprains (Gutch & Peacock). But the other prescriptions are much older, and less particular, like this 15th century remedy: “for botches: Take … oculus Christi and vervain, and make a plaster of them; and lay it from the boil two finger-breadths, and again put it as far further. And so do till it come to the place where you will break it”. (Dawson. 1934). Hardly a model of clarity. Oculus Christi, is, of course Christ’s Eye (“most blasphemously called Christ’s Eye, because it cures Diseases of the Eye” (Culpeper)).

There were some veterinary usages as well, noticed by Martin in his account of the Western Isles. Horses were wormed with it, he said, and “a quantity … chewed between one’s teeth, and put into the ears of cows and sheep that become blind, cures them, and perfectly restores their sight, of which there are many fresh instances both in Skye and Harris, by persons of great integrity”.

WHITLOW-WORT

(Paronychia spp) The name of the genus, Paronychia, is from Greek words meaning ‘close to the nail’, alluding to the original use of the plant to treat whitlows. That is why the genus is known generally as Whitlow-wort, or sometimes, particularly for P jamesii, Nailwort.

P argentea is a plant from the Middle East and North Africa. Palestinian children would eat the tips of the young stems, and because they are red at the joints, they give the name Dove’s Foot, the dove who always has henna on her feet. For when Noah sent a raven and a dove from the Ark, the raven never came back, ut the dove did, and Noah blessed her (Crowfoot & Baldensperger).

WILD RADISH

(Raphanus raphanistrum) Not the ancestor of the garden radish, but this is a common farm and garden weed. The seeds, which are toxic to livestock, have been used as a remedy for haemorrhage and malaria (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk). Among Europeans in South Africa, the plant has been used for gravel, a remedy listed by Hill a long time ago. An early 17th century auburn hair dye had as its principal constituents radish and hedge-privet (Wykes-Joyce).

PRIMROSE

Primula vulgaris Primroses are fittingly fairy flowers, at least in Welsh and Irish folk tradition. But Milton must have been aware of the belief, too. His “yellow-skirted fayes” wore primroses. But fairy flowers can give protection from the fairies, too. Manx children used to gather them to lay before the doors of houses on May Eve to prevent the entrance of fairies, who cannot pass them, so it was said (Hull). So they did in Ireland, too (Briggs. 1967), and tied them to the cows’ tails (Wilde. 1902), for no evil spirits can touch anything protected by these flowers (Buchanan. 1962). A primrose ball over the threshold served the same purpose in Somerset (Tongue. 1965). Those powers of protection went further – they could be used against the evil eye, for example (Wood- Martin). In the Derbyshire folk tale called Crooker, primroses formed one of the three magic posies given to the traveller to protect him from the evil Crooker. The others were St John’s Wort and daisies (Tongue. 1970). Another of the Somerset beliefs was that you should keep some primroses under a baby’s cot, or in its room, but always more than thirteen flowers (Tongue. 1965), but that proviso comes by confusion with another belief that will be mentioned shortly. The Welsh for primrose is Briallu. Perhaps Davies was right when he gave as its derivation bru, which means dignity, and gallu, power. He suggested too that the Druids used it in their mystical apparatus, so it is interesting to find that offerings of milk and primroses used to be made at a prehistoric burial chamber called the Water Stone, at Wrington, Avon (Grinsell. 1976).

Primroses were used as love charms in many places. Browne is talking about them when he says “maidens as a true-love in their bosoms place” (quoted by Dyer. 1889). Indeed, they symbolise wantonness in folk tradition, as Shakespeare well knew when he has Hamlet say “himself the primrose path of dalliance treads”. But in the language of flowers, it was associated with melancholy (Webster).

Primroses were not always entirely welcome, for they had their dark side. To dream of them, for instance, means sickness, deceit, sorrow and grief (Raphael). A primrose blooming in June is a sign of trouble and bad luck, according to Welsh belief (Trevelyan), and if it blooms in winter, then it is a death omen. Bringing them indoors – well, it all depended on how many were gathered. Two or three brought into a poultrykeeper’s house in early spring, before the chicks were hatched, meant bad luck to the sittings, but it would be alright if there were thirteen or more flowers, or “no less than a handful”. In Devonshire, they said that the number of primroses brought in would agree with the number of chickens reared (Friend. 1883; W Jones. 1880; Gill. 1963), for thirteen is the number traditional to a clutch of eggs placed under a hen during the spring (G E Evans. 1966). There was a similar belief in France – if you threw the first primroses you found before the goslings, it would kill them, and if you took the flowers indoors, the goslings would die before being hatched (Sebillot). It was even unlucky to include primroses (and hazel catkins) in the posy carried to church on Easter Sunday. Violets had to be put in too, to compensate for the primroses (Tongue. 1965). But it was probably a lot more serious than it seems, at least in some areas, those in which primroses were looked on as a death token, just as snowdrops are. One explanation from Sussex is that it was used to strew on graves, and to dress up corpses in the coffin (Latham). Certainly, quarrels have been recorded as arising from this belief, and it could lead to charges of ill-wishing. Anyone giving a child, say, one or two primroses, would leave himself open to such a charge ( W Jones. 1880).

In Lincolnshire, it was believed that if primroses were planted the wrong way up, the flowers would come red (Gutch & Peacock). They say exactly the same thing about cowslips, too. Northamptonshire people would claim that a common primrose fed with bullock’s blood will become deep red (Baker. 1977). Christina Hole had a note that the brown marks in the middle of primroses were supposed to be the rust marks left by the keys of heaven when St Peter carelessly lost them, and they were left out all night on the primroses – something else that really belongs to cowslips.

Primrose leaves and flowers were used in salads (when, so it is claimed, they will help to keep off arthritis (Page. 1978)), and as pot-herbs. The leaves were often used, too, in herbal medicines. “Primrose leaves stamped and laid on the place that bleedeth stauncheth the blood”, said Lupton, and Culpeper agreed – “of the leaves of primroses is made as fine a salve to heal wounds as any that I know”. The flowers and young leaves boiled in lard make an ointment for healing cuts and chapped hands, and they say in Dorset that an ointment made with bramble tips and primroses is excellent for getting rid of spots and pimples on the face (Dacombe), and something known in Scotland as “spring rashes” was treated with the juice of primroses used as a lotion (Gibson. 1959). Burns and cuts would be treated with a salve made from the leaves (Beith), while in Suffolk, the leaves were dried, soaked in linseed oil, and put on the burn, which would heal in two or three hours after that treatment (Hatfield. 1994). The leaves themselves are often rubbed on a cut by men working in the fields (Hampshire FWI).

In modern herbal medicine, it is the root infusion that is used, in tablespoonful doses, as a good remedy against nervous headaches (Grieve. 1931). If taken last thing at night it has a decided narcotic tendency (Leyel. 1926), and so is good for insomnia. A 15th century recipe recommended boiling lavender and primrose in ale, and drinking the result “for trembling hands, and hands asleep” (Dawson. 1934). Gerard included among the virtues of the flowers “sodden in vinegar”, and applied, the ability to cure the King’s Evil [scrofula, that is], “and the almonds of the throat and uvula, if you gargarise the part with the decoction thereof ”. Even more remarkable is a prescription included in the Welsh medical text known as the Physicians of Myddfai: “whosoever shall have lost his reason or his speech, let him drink of the juice of the primrose, within two months afterwards, and he will indeed recover”.

Primula auricula > AURICULA

Primula veris > COWSLIP

WILD RICE

(Zizania aquatica) A North American plant, found in marshes, shallow ponds, and by lake shores, etc. It was particularly associated with the Menomini Indians, whose name seems to mean something like “Wild Rice Men”, because they were so intimately connected with the harvest and use of the plant. They even transplanted it into new waters. Since it springs up from under the earth and water, it was reckoned to be the gift of the “Underneath” beings. They believed that the birds on their migrations followed these beings, and brought rice to them. The usual harvest season is about the middle of September, when the Menomini gathered in camps on the shores of the lakes. When the rice was heavy, the chief of each band made a sacrifice of tobacco to the “Underneath” beings, the Master of Rice, and begged permission to harvest it (A Skinner).

WILD STRAWBERRY

(Fragaria vesca) Often confused with the Barren Strawberry, which is no relation, and belongs to an entirely different genus. Nobody seems to agree about how strawberry got its name. Of course, we put straw around the plants to protect the fruit, but the name was streawberige in OE times. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology admits it does not know the derivation. Anyway, the fruit has always been much appreciated; to quote Aubrey – “strawberries have moist delicious taste, and are so innocent that a woman in childbed, or one in a feaver, may safely eate them”.

WHITLOW GRASS

(Erophila verna) “As touching the qualitie hereof, we have nothing to set downe: only it hath been taken to heale the disease of the nailes called a Whitlow, whereof it tooke his name” (Gerard). It is a sign of rain if the leaves of the Whitlow Grass droop (Inwards).

WHITLOWS

The use of WOODY NIGHTSHADE for skin complaints can be confirmed by the name sometimes given to this plant – Felonwort. That is a sure sign that it would have been used in curing whitlows which were called in Latin ‘furunculi’, little thieves – felons, in other words (Prior). “Country people commonly used to take the berries of it, and having bruised them, they apply them to Felons, and thereby soon rid their fingers of such troublesome Guests” (Culpeper). Irish country people have a “herb poultice” with which to dress a whitlow – YARROW leaves, fresh grass and a herb called finabawn, whatever that is. Equal parts of the herbs are ground up thoroughly, and then beaten up with white of egg. This is put on the inflamed finger, and it must not be changed for 48 hours (Logan). Another Irish charm is to point a GOOSEBERRY thorn at it nine times in the name of the Trinity (Wilde. 1902). A chewed TOBACCO leaf has been used in Scotland to cure a whitlow (Rorie. 1914). But the best known cure is by use of the plant known as WHITLOW-WORT, Paronychia spp. The generic name is from Greek words meaning ‘close to the nail’, an allusion to its original use to treat the condition. See also WHITLOW GRASS (Erophila verna).

WINTER ACONITE

(Eranthis hyemalis) It is toxic, at any rate to animals, but little harm is normally done, for the burning taste will usually stop them eating it (North), and it is not so dire as Gerard’s remark (“this herb is counted to be very dangerous and deadly”) would suggest. But he went on to describe its uses, one of which involved scorpions: “… it is reported to prevail mightily against the bitings of scorpions”. It seems that scorpions had only to touch the plant, and they became “dull, heavy and senceless”, but White hellebore was the scorpion’s antidote.

WINTER JASMINE

(Jasminum nudiflorum) It is reported that in Caistor, in Lincolnshire, yellow jasmine was the gift brought by the first-foot on New Year’s Day (Rudkin).

WINDFLOWER

A name given to most species of ANEMONE, particularly to the WOOD ANEMONE (Anemone nemerosa). It is explained by asserting that some species flourish in open exposed places, or that they would not open till the March winds begin to blow (Friend. 1883). The belief is from Pliny, and the Greek anemos is the word, and the name of the flower means literally “daughter of the wind” But this is folk etymology really, for the true origin is the Semitic word na’aman, which means the one “who was pleasant”, or “lovely”, with actual reference to the POPPY ANEMONE (A coronaria) (Grigson. 1976).

WISHING CAP

The Welsh wishing cap was usually made of the leaves and twigs of HAZEL, though sometimes JUNIPER could be used. The hazel leaves had to be gathered at midnight, at new or full moon, and made up as quickly as possible (Trevelyan). The cap was worn for protection, and also for good luck, particularly by sailors, or anyone connected with the sea and ships (R L Brown). It was also said that, wearing one of these caps, a person could easily remember nursery tales or other stories (Roderick).

MAORI FIRE / Pennantia corymbosa

A New Zealand tree, called kaikomako by the Maori, who used it for friction fire-making, as the common name implies. Maui’ was the deity who taught the people how to do this. Andersen’s version of the myth runs as follows: “… from a kaikomako he broke dry branches, and from them he fashioned fire-sticks. While at his request a man held one stick firmly on the ground with his foot, Maui’ rubbed the second, sharpened to a point, briskly to and fro on the one so held. First it heated, and formed a little ball of black powder; then the powder smoked; then it glowed. Maui’ took dry moss, wrapped the powder in it, waved it in the air, when lo! A flame! The people did likewise …” (Andersen).

HASHISH

is an Arabic word, meaning hay or dried herb (Grigson. 1974), but it is a term with many meanings, though it seemed to be applied by Burton to a form of CANNABIS (HEMP) taken or used voluntarily. “Tis composed of hemp leaflets whereunto are added aromatic roots and somewhat of sugar; then they cook it and prepare a kind of confection which they eat, but whoso eateth it, (especially if he eat more than enough), talketh of matters which reason may in no wise represent” (quoted by Lloyd). It is the resin obtained from the glandular leaves and floral parts of the female plant. The name appears, too, in the name of a Persian form Hashishin Rus (some would say it actually derived from that name). Al-Hasan ibn-al-Sabah (the “old man of the mountains”), a 12th century charismatic dissenter from orthodox Moslem thought, founded a new sect called Hashishin, a name that also produced the word assassin (Emboden. 1969). In Egypt and the Middle East, hashish is smoked in special pipes called josies (De Ropp).

HICCUPS

An Alabama cure for the hiccups is to drink a tablespoonful of QUINCE juice (R B Browne). Wickop, or Wicopy, are American names for ROSEBAY WILLOWHERB (Chamaenerion angustifolium). They mean hiccup, for which the root was used as a cure (Sanecki). ANISE, according to Gerard, “… helpeth the yeoxing or hicket, both when it is drunken or eaten dry …”. An infusion of WHITE HELLEBORE has been used in Russian folk medicine. It would “stop hiccuping immediately” (Kourennoff). Naturally, with a plant as poisonous as this, doses would have to be very small. A few drops of CAJUPUT oil on sugar will quickly end hiccups (Mitton). Maya medical texts prescribed KIDNEY BEANS for the hiccups (Roys).

HINAU / Elaeocarpus dentatus

Hinau is the Maori name for this New Zealand tree. One particular specimen, in North Island, was famous with the Maori as a fertility smbol. A childless woman embraced the tree while her husband recited the necessary charm. The east side of the tree was the male side, the west the female, and the woman would make her choice of east or west according to whether she wanted a boy or girl child (Andersen).

COWSLIP

Primula veris An unromantic name for such a plant, for cowslip (OE cuslyppe) means cow dung. It must have arisen from observation that a meadow full of cowpats suddenly became full of cowslips as well. Oxlip has a similar derivation. What is clear is that cowslip is not cow’s lip, in spite of Ben Jonson’s “Bright dayes-eyes and the lippes of Cowes”. It is said that cattle have an aversion to the cowslip, and they will refuse to eat it. It is further said that cowslips would give them the cramp, or colic, and the cattle will become “elfshot” (A R Forbes. 1905).

In Lincolnshire, it was believed that if a cowslip root was set the wrong way up, it would come up a primrose (Gutch & Peacock), and in Cheshire, the result would be that it would come up red (Hole. 1937). Another superstition is that if you dream of them in bloom, it is a sign of a sudden change in your fortunes (Raphael). Unfortunately, the dream book does not say whether for good or ill. Another belief is that you only hear the nightingale’s song where there are a lot of cowslips (Swainson. 1886), for they have, according to an old belief, a particular liking for such a place. There is one piece of weather lore – if the cowslip’s stalks are short, then we are in for a dry summer (Inwards). Some say, too, that we never get warm, settled weather till the cowslips are finished, and if they were bloom in winter, it would be an omen of death (Hole. 1937).

There is a kind of divination game that children used to play with cowslips, called Tisty-Tosty, or Tosty-Tosty. Blossoms, picked on Whit Sunday for preference, were tied into a ball. Strictly, the balls were the tisty-tosties, though the growing flowers got the name, too. Lady Gomme mentioned the game as belonging to Somerset, but it had a much wider spread than that. The cowslip ball is tossed about while the names of various boys or girls are called, of the time-honoured Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor… fashion, till it drops. The name called at that moment is taken to be the “one indicated by the oracle”, as Udal puts it, for the rhyme spoken at the beginning is:

Tisty-tosty tell me true

Who shall I be married to?

That is quoted as a Dorset rhyme, but the same is recorded in Herefordshire (Leather). The game is also known in Wales, where the purpose is different, for the rhyme there is:

Pistey, Postey, four and twenty,

How many years shall I live?

One, two, three, four … (Trevelyan).

John Clare (The shepherd’s calendar)called the tistytosties cucking balls:

And cowslip cucking balls to toss

Above the garlands swinging light …

A different tradition here, obviously. Roy Genders, who used the name cucka-balls, says they were often threaded on twine and hung from one window to another across the street.

Both flowers and leaves have their culinary uses – they have been used in salads since medieval times (Brownlow), or the leaves can be boiled with other herbs (Jason Hill). Paigle Pudding is mentioned as a Hertfordshire dish (Jones-Baker. 1977), made from the dried petals, flour, etc., Cowslip tea is still made, and has been a country delicacy for a long time. Flora Thompson enjoyed it, and said it is made from the peeps (or pips, a name usually reserved for the dried flowers from which the wine ought to be made (Bloom), by pouring boiling water over them, then letting it stand for a few minutes to infuse. It can then be drunk with or without sugar. Cowslip wine is an excellent sedative, apparently (Grieve. 1931). Izaak Walton, in Compleat Angler (1653) recommended what he called Minnow-tansies. The minnows should be “washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts taken out and not washed after”. They make “excellent Minnow-tansies, that is fried in yolks of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and primroses and a little tansy, thus used they make a dainty dish of meat”.

An old name for cowslip is Palsywort, which shows that it must have been used for that complaint. It must have been the trembling or nodding of the flowers that suggested it. Grigson. 1955 pointed out that the medieval Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum had commended the cowslip as a cure for palsy or paralysis (hence another old name, Herb Paralysy). Gerard repeated the prescription – “cowslips are commended against the pain of the joints called the gout, and slacknesse of the sinues, which is the palsie”. He goes back to it – “a conserve made with the flours of cowslips and sugar prevaileth wonderfully against the palsie, convulsions, cramps, and all diseases of the sinues”. Culpeper, too, mentions it – “because they strengthen the brain and nerves, the Greeks gave them the name paralysis”. It still appears in herbal medicine books as a remedy for giddiness, nervous debility or excitement (Wickham), and herbalists still use cowslip leaves as a sedative and pain-killer (Conway).

“An unguent made with the juice of Cowslips and oile of Linseed, cureth all scaldings or burnings with fire, water, or otherwise”(Gerard). This unguent used to be well-known as a good thing to improve the complexion (Dyer. 1889), and is still recommended (Conway). Culpeper says “Venus lays claim to this herb as her own, and it is under the sign Aries, and our city dames know well enough the ointment or distilled water of it adds beauty, or at least restores it when it is lost”. Gypsies use an infusion of the dried flowers to allay convulsions and to lower the temperature (Vesey-Fitzgerald). That is why cowslip wine or tea is taken for measles and other fevers (Hampshire FWI), and herbalists prescribe the root decoction or extract to treat ailments like whooping cough, bronchitis and pneumonia (Schauenberg & Paris). The strangest usage must be this Irish one for deafness: Take the cowslip, roots, blossoms and leaves, clean them well, then bruise and press them in a linen cloth, add honey to the juice thus pressed out, put it in a bottle, and pour a few drops into the nostrils and ears of the patient, who is to lie on his back. Then after some time, turn him on his face till the water pours out, carrying away whatever obstruction lay on the brain (Wilde. 1890).

One series of names for the cowslip starts with Herb Peter. Then follows a whole Bunch of Keys (Macmillan), all from the supposed resemblance to the badge of St Peter – a bunch of keys. The legend is that St Peter once dropped the keys of heaven, and the first cowslip grew up where they fell (Greenoak). So we have St Peter’s Keys and St Peter’s Herb, or Keywort, and Keys of Heaven, etc., as old names for cowslip.

CURTAIN PLANT

Kalanchoe pinnata: A leaf decoction is used in St Kitts to treat hypertension, and a similar decoction is taken in the Dominican Republic to deal with intestinal infections (Laguerre). In Mexico, where the plant is called hoja fresca, they put a green leaf over each temple, for headaches (Kelly & Palerm). In West Africa, it was the custom to squeeze the juice into the mouth of a new-born baby, and an infusion was drunk by both mother and child (Dalziel).

Cuscuta epithymum > DODDER

RASPBERRY

RASPBERRY leaf tea is a general country drink taken to ensure easy childbirth. They say it should be started three months before the birth is due, and taken two or three times a week (Page. 1978). Highland women used it too as a means of strengthening the womb muscles (Beith). The tea was an old remedy for relieving morning sickness, and powdered leaves can be bought in tablet form (Addison. 1985); they are said to ensure relaxation in childbirth, a function that the fresh fruit will perform just as well. African women grind the bark of AKEE and mix it with locally made black soap to wash with during pregnancy. This is supposed to ensure easy delivery when the time comes (Soforowa), while other African peoples recommend that seven seeds of MELEGUETA PEPPER, with a piece of paw-paw root, should be chewed during labour. It is supposed to cause immediate delivery (Soforowa). Gypsy women used to drink LINSEED tea during pregnancy to ensure an easy birth (Vesey- Fitzgerald), and a Swedish belief had it that HEATH SPOTTED ORCHID (Dactylorchis maculata), known there as Maria’s Keys, used to be put in the pregnant woman’s bed as an amulet for easy delivery. A prayer was said at the same time in which the Virgin’s keys were referred to, and the loan of them asked during childbirth (Kvideland & Sehmsdorf).

Greek midwives made sure that, at the birth of a child, the whole room smelled of GARLIC, and a few cloves had to be fastened round the baby’s neck either at birth or immediately after baptism (Lawson). Palestinian mothers and new-born babies must be protected from Lilith with garlic cloves, for she would otherwise strangle the babies, and frighten the mother into madness (Hanauer). All this highlights garlic as a protector from evil influences. Another Greek, or rather Cretan, practice was to use DITTANY in difficult childbirth. That plant was dedicated to the goddess Lucina, who watched over women in childbirth (Gubernatis). But the earlier belief was “a hind … eateth this herb that she may calve easilier and sooner …” (Bartholomew Anglicus), and observation of this led women to adopt the practice. PEARLWORT, put under the right knee of a woman in labour, soothed her mind and protected her child and herself from the fairies (J G Campbell. 1902), for this is the mystical Mothan, very important in Gaelic communities.

In the Highlands, at the birth of a child, the midwife used to put a green ASH stick into the fire, and while it was burning, let the sap drop into a spoon. This was given as the first spoonful of liquor to the newborn baby (Ramsay). The universe tree in Scandinavian mythology, Yggdrasil, is taken to be an ash. The cooked fruit of this tree ensures safe childbirth. Yggdrasil itself is the source of all new life (Crossley-Holland).

HONEYSUCKLE. In the Scottish ballad of Willie’s Lady, the witch tries various means of preventing the birth of the Lady’s child, including a “bush o’ woodbine” planted between her bower and the girl’s. Once this “restricting, constricting, plant” has been removed, the birth proceeds normally (Grigson). The Physicians of Myddfai made the extraordinary claim, “if a woman be unable to give birth to her child, let the MUGWORT be bound to her left thigh. Let it be instantly removed when she has been delivered, lest there should be haemorrhage”. Clearly this is a garbled version of an older, perhaps genuine, usage of the plant. It is a theme taken up by Gerard, for he said “that it bringeth down the termes, the birth, and the afterbirth…”. Perhaps the answer lies in the old belief that Artemis helped women in childbirth (the generic name for this plant is Artemisia). FAIRY FLAX (Linum catharticum) has a similar use. Just putting it under the soles of the feet, so it was believed until quite recently in the Hebrides, was an aid to easy childbirth (V G Hatfield. 1984). But this plant, as its specific name implies, is an effective purge (Purging Flax is another name in English), and it was well known in the Highlands for gynaecological and menstrual problems (Beith). CAMOMILE tea is good for women in labour (Thonger) – it is good for virtually anything, and a regular panacea.

PARSLEY superstitions include many connected with conception and childbirth, summed up in the saying “sow parsley, sow babies” (Waring). The parsley bed, like the gooseberry bush, was once “the euphemistic breeding grounds of babies” (Gordon. 1977), or at least girl babies were found there (Baker. 1977). But many of these parsley beliefs are confused, ranging as they do from aphrodisiacs to abortifacients. WILD PARSNIP was used in Anglo-Saxon times for a difficult labour (M L Cameron).

The Hopi Indians made ritual use of CALIFORNIAN JUNIPER during childbirth, either by a chewed piece, or a tea made from the leaves. During the lying-in period, all of the mother’s food had to be prepared in some degree with a decoction of juniper leaves. Her clothes, too, had to be washed in water that had some of the leaves in it. The newborn baby itself was rubbed with ashes from burned juniper, and if later on in its life the child misbehaved, recourse was made again to the juniper. The child was taken, at his mother’s request, and held by some other woman in a blanket over a smouldering fire of juniper. He soon escaped, of course, half suffocated, supposedly a better and wiser child (Whiting). Some Indian peoples made a tea from the leaves of PLANTAIN-LEAVED EVERLASTING for mothers to drink for two weeks after giving birth (H H Smith. 1928). Menomini Indian women used the tea made from DUTCH RUSH, which is a Horsetail, to clean up the system after childbirth (Youngken).

Fenland midwives used to give a “pain-killing cake” to women in labour. Apparently it was made from wholemeal flour, hemp seed crushed with a rolling pin, crushed rhubarb root, and grated DANDELION root. These were mixed to a batter with egg yolk, milk and gin(!), turned into a tin and baked in a hot oven. At the woman’s first groan, a slice of cake would be handed to her (Porter. 1969). Hempseed, rhubarb and gin would have quite an effect, but it is not clear how dandelion fits into the pattern.

An example of sympathetic magic at work is the use of ROSE OF JERICHO (Anastatica hierochuntica) when there is a difficult birth. As the seeds ripen on the plant, during the dry season, the leaves fall off, and the branches curve inwards to make a ball, which is blown about the desert until the rainy season begins. So, when birth is difficult, they put the ball in water, so that it will slowly open, thus sympathetically bringing about the same result for the women in labour.

GUMBOIL

Sucking a SLOE is said to cure gumboils (Addison & Hillhouse). A poultice made from CAMOMILE flowers or leaves was a Scottish treatment for them (Gibson. 1959).

HARTSTONGUE / Phyllitis scolopendrium

Both in Wales and in Scotland, hartstongue leaves have been used for a wound application (C P Johnson), and, made into an ointment, it was a Highland cure for burns (Beith).

GUINEA-HEN WEED / Petiveria alliacea

Originally from Venezuela and Amazonia, but it grows in the Caribbean region, and also in West Africa. It will give a garlic flavour to milk if cows eat it, and it has been used as a fish poison (Perry. 1972), and it functions as an insecticide (Dalziel). A Yoruba preparation to prevent being attacked by someone, required a leaf of this plant, a leaf of Ageratum conyzoides, and some other, unidentified, leaf, all burnt together, and rubbed into small incisions on the hand (Verger).

Ka’apor people of Amazonia made an amulet of the bark for infants, wrapped in cloth. It would ward off the evil divinity (Balée), and they plant it by their doors as an apotropaic protector. It is used as an ingredient in the ritual baths that are part of Brazilian healing ceremonies (P V A Williams), and amulets are made of the wood, in the shape of the universal figa. The figa gesture is usually made with the hand, but wearing a carved figa round the neck or waist is much simpler. Brazilian street vendors wear one, or stand one up on their trays so as to protect their goods from the evil eye. Petiveria plants are widely used in Brazil for repelling the evil eye and for curing in general, and the leaves are popular in the ritual that accompanies the recitation of a curing prayer (reza). Three leaves can be worn behind the ear as an amulet (P V A Williams).

In West Africa, this provides a whooping cough remedy (Dalziel), and it was used for toothache by slaves in Jamaica (Laguerre). The leaf decoction is used for abortion in Guyana, where it is called Gully-root, and that same decoction is taken for arthritis in Barbados, and for headaches in Jamaica (Laguerre).

GREAT BURNET / Sanguisorba officinalis

By tradition, a stauncher of blood, perhaps from the colour of its flowers, which are of a dark crimson (the generic name, Sanguisorba, comes from Latin sanguis, blood). “Burnet is a singular good herb for wounds … it stauncheth bleeding and therefore it was named Sanguisorba, as well inwardly taken as outwardly applied” (Gerard), in other words, surface wounds as well as internal haemorrhages. The plant was actually called Bloodwort (Clair), or Burnet Bloodwort (Prior). An interesting fact, whether this use is from flower colour or not, is that it is taken in Chinese medicine for haemorrhages, too (Geng Junying), as well as for dysentery and other ailments. The leaves of Sweet Basil and Burnet steeped in boiling water make a cooling face wash (H N Webster).

VEGETABLE MARROW

Cucurbita pepo
Marrow seeds, in the form of an infusion as well as in a pulp, have for long been a
domestic remedy for internal parasites (Lloyd). As with pumpkin seeds, they are an efficient diuretic. The American Indians knew this perfectly well, too – the Menomini, for instance, used the pulverized seeds for any kind of urinary complaint (Corlett). A decoction of the flowers is given in Trinidad as a measles remedy (L M Perry).

LINDEN

A common, though poetical, synonym for LIME. The OE linde, sometimes used for a tree in general (Halliwell. 1881), is the source. Other versions of linden are Lin (F K Robinson), Lind, or Lynd, both Scottish variations (Jamieson). Place names in England include Lindfield, in Sussex, which means lime-tree land, Lindsell, in Essex – huts built round lime-trees (Wilks). Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, is another example (Rackham. 1986).

LESSER EVENING PRIMROSE

Oenothera biennis

The tap roots have been used as a vegetable, boiled, which makes them quite nutritious, but they were little used after the introduction of the potato (C P Johnson). The taste is not unlike parsnips (Loewenfeld), or even salsify, so it is claimed (Kearney). There are a few medicinal uses. The American Indians, or at any rate the Ojibwe, used to soak the whole plant in warm water to make a poultice that would heal bruises (H H Smith. 1945). But there are recognized herbal remedies involving the bark and leaves, which are known to be sedative and astringent, so they have been used for gastro-intestinal disorders in particular, and also for asthma and whooping cough (Grieve. 1931). More recently, the seeds have been successfully used to treat eczema (T Walker). Oil of Evening Primrose helps menopausal changes and pre-menstrual problems, and it has been recommended to help arthritis, and even to slow down changes in multiple sclerosis (M Evans).

BEAR’S EARS

BEAR’S EARS is a very common name for AURICULA (Primula auricula) (that is what is suggested by the word ‘auricula’ itself). It is the shape of the leaf that gave rise to the name. It appears as Boar’s Ears, or Bore’s Ears in northern Scotland. Jamieson said that a bear is called a boar in the north of Scotland. However that may be, the name changes as one goes south. In Lancashire it is Baziers, or Basiers (Nodal & Milner). There is a May song from Lancashire that has as its refrain “The baziers are sweet in the morning of May”. Further south still, in Gloucestershire, the name is further changed to Bezors (Britten & Holland).

LIMA BEAN

Phaseolus lunatus

Probably better known as Butter Bean. African-Americans in the southern states of America had a superstition about these bean hulls – they had to be thrown into the road. They could not be burned, for that would inhibit the next crop, neither could they be fed to the cows or pigs, for that would mean the animals would get into the garden and eat the growing plants (Puckett). Split a Lima Bean in half and rub it over a wart. Toss the bean into a well, and the wart will disappear (H M Hyatt) (cf BROAD BEAN).

CAROLINA NIGHTSHADE

Solanum carolinense Assuming that the name Horse Nettle is meant for this plant, there are a number of uses that R B Browne lists from Alabama. It is recommended for

1) retention of virility in old age (eat a quarter-inch of the stalk),
2) a cough medicine,
3) neuralgia (leaf tea and leaf poultice),
4) toothache (chew it, or put it in the cavity).

It was good for teething, too, as well as for toothache – they were
strung on a thread and left round a baby’s neck until they wore out (Puckett).

GRAPE VINE

(Vitis vinifera) The vine is sometimes used as an emblem of Christ. As such it has had the highest honour in the decoration of churches (Haig), especially when it is growing from the chalice of the Eucharist (Child & Colles). Christ said “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that dwelleth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing” (John. 15; 5). In Old Testament writings, the vine stands for the Jewish people as a whole. Dreaming of vines denotes health, prosperity and fertility (Gordon. 1985).

It is said in Iowa that a vine leaf in the hat will prevent sunstroke (Stout), and in Kentucky, they say that rubbing the sap from a grape vine on the hair will make it grow (Thomas & Thomas). Sap collected when growth starts in the spring is used for eczema in some country areas, and drops of it are also used for eye infections (Shauenberg & Paris).

LESSER YELLOW TREFOIL

Trifolium dubium

Is this the true shamrock? Very likely, it seems (Britten). A recent (1988) survey showed that more people (46% of those replying) were convinced that this was the true shamrock rather than other clovers (Nelson). One difficulty about this is the belief that the shamrock is peculiar to Ireland and will not grow out of that country. But this plant is common all over Europe. Another Irish belief is that shamrock does not flower. This is understandable, given that the demand for it is in March, and no clover will be in flower then.

LEPROSY

In the second edition of Gerard, there is “Bauhine saith that he heard the use of these (POTATO) roots was forbidden in Burgundy (where they call them Indian artichokes) for that they were persuaded the too frequent use of them caused leprosie”. Bauhine is Gaspar Bauhin, whose Prodromos of 1620 set out the theory. As late as 1761 this prejudice against the potato was still apparent in that area, and its cause was probably to be accounted for by the doctrine of signatures, the skin of a potato reminding someone of the effects of leprosy.

Dioscorides asserted that the leaves of ELM, “beaten small with vinegar, and soe applied are good for the leprosie …” (Apuleius Madaurensis). Wesley, too, associated elm with a leprosy cure, but it was the bark he prescribed. The leaves of PHYSIC NUT are used, externally, in Chinese medicine, to make an ointment to treat skin diseases, even leprosy (Chinese medicinal herbs of Hong Kong. Vol 3; 1987). In southern India, the dried root of SCARLET LEADWORT (Plumbago indica) used to be highly regarded as a leprosy (and syphilis) cure (P A Simpson).

SNAKE’S HEAD LILY (Fritillaria meleagris) has the name in some areas of Leopard Lily, which looks very strange, until another name, Lazarus Bell, is considered. It is named after the small bells that lepers were made to carry about with them, so that they could warn the healthy of their approach. Leopard Lily is just a corruption of leper’s lily.

LABRADOR TEA

Ledum groendlandicum
A North American evergreen shrub, whose leaves contain some narcotic substance (Turner & Bell), though it appears that the Indians were unaware of any such property, although the Ojibwa did use it as a substitute tobacco (Jenness. 1935). Certainly, strewn among clothes, the leaves will keep moths away, and in Lapland, branches are put among grain to discourage mice (Grieve. 1931). Bergen. 1899 mentions the leaf tea as an American domestic medicine for stomach disorders, and it has also been drunk for rheumatism (E Gunther).

ITCHING POWDER

The seeds of DOG ROSE constitute the original itching powder with which children amused themselves by putting down each others’ necks. They are called Itchy-backs (Opie & Opie. 1959) and Cowitches (Holland). In Devonshire they are Ticklers, or Tickling Tommies (Macmillan), and in Scotland and Ireland, Buckie-lice (Grigson. 1955), buckie being the name under which the hips themselves are known. Another source of children’s fun lies in using the fruits of LONDON PLANE for itching powder. The spicules fill the air round the trees, and can be the cause of health problems.

INFLUENZA

Boil MEADOWSWEET flowers in water for ten minutes, then take three cupfuls a day (Fluck). It will have the same effect as aspirin, for some of the chemical constituents of the drug are also present in the plant. A LINSEED decoction was an Irish country cure for influenza (Logan). So it was in the Highlands of Scotland, too, with honey and a little vinegar added (Grant). One way to deal with ‘flu, according to Alabama belief, is to put an onion in a pan under the bed (R B Browne), and the complaint was tackled in Scotland in a similar way – one half at an open window, and the other above the door. The onion would attract the disease, and so turn black (Beith).

LIME

COMMON LIME (Tilia x vulgaris) In German mythology, the Elf King lived in the Linden tree (Bayley. 1919), and dwarfs loved to haunt the tree. Heroes fell into enchanted sleep beneath them. In both Hungary and Germany, magical properties were ascribed to the tree. In some villages it was usual to plant one in front of a house to stop witches entering.

It was sacred to Venus among the Greeks, due, it was said, to the heart-shaped leaves. This was transmitted to Christian symbolism; the penance laid on Mary Magdalene by Christ was that “she should have no other food, and sleep on no other bed, save one made of its leaves”. “For Magdalene had loved much, and therefore her penance was by means of that which is a symbol of love” (Leland. 1898).

What was evidently a sacred Lime tree, known as the Wonderful Tree, once grew in Ditmarschen, near the bridge at Suderheistede. An old prophecy said that as soon as the Ditmarscheners lost their freedom, the tree would wither. This happened, but it was said that a magpie would one day build its nest in the branches, and hatch five white birds, and then the tree would begin to sprout again, and the country recover its ancient freedom (Thorpe). There was a “family” Lime tree at Cuckfield Hall, in Sussex. It regularly dropped a branch when there was going to be a death in the family (M Baker. 1980).

In Germany, lime flowers were never brought indoors – it gave the girls in the house erotic dreams, so it was said (M Baker. 1977). Lime is a feminine tree in Lithuanian folk belief (oak is the male tree par excellence). The souls of women moved into lindens or firs, the other feminine tree, at death, and women’s graves were marked by a linden cross (Gimbutas. 1958). The bast used by gardeners for tying up plants, and for packing goods, is obtained from the inner bark. In Europe, the use of bark fabrics was established in prehistoric times, particularly the bast of the Lime tree, which at one time grew in large forests. Shoes of plaited bast were still worn in very recent times in eastern Europe, particualrly in the Volga district (Buhler. 1940). The wood, to quote J Taylor. 1812, is “soft, light and smooth; close-grained, and not subject to the worm, and of a spongy texture. It is used for making lasts and tables for shoemakers. It also makes good charcoal for gunpowder”. All the Grinling Gibbons carvings are in lime, which is ideal for the task (Ablett). “The flowers afford the best honey for bees, and the gummy sap or juice, when repeatedly boiled and clarified, produces a substance like sugar” (J Taylor. 1812). Lime-flower honey is indeed very good; in fact at one time it cost three or four times as much as ordinary honey (Ablett).

Lime-blossom tea is valued for headaches. It is used a lot in France as “tilleul”, a slightly sedative drink (F G Savage). Besides being very pleasant, it is given in Somerset for insomnia (Tongue. 1965). A hot bath with lime-flowers in it, is another insomnia remedy, and it is also good for nervous irritability (Quelch). The tea is “good against giddiness of the head, tremblings of the limbs and all other lighter nervous disorders” (Hill. 1754). The distilled water, according to Evelyn, was regarded as good “against epilepsy, apoplexy, vertigo, trembling of the heart …”. Even sitting under a lime tree is reported as improving the condition of epileptics (M Baker. 1980). Gerard had already noted that “the floures are commended by divers … against … the falling sickness…”. A more barbaric remedy was noted in 18th century Scotland: for the “falling sickness in children”: “take a little black sucking puppy (but for a girl take a bitch whelp), choke it, open it, take out the gall, put it all to the child in the time of the fit, with a little tile-tree flower water, and you shall see him cured as it were by a miracle presently” (Graham) (Tile-tree is Lime, of course, taken directly from the generic name, Tilia, which was the Latin name for the tree).

It is also said that the infusion of the flowers is good in the treatment of arteriosclerosis, for it thins the blood, and so improves the circulation (Palaiseul), and so it is useful for hypertension as well (M Evans). That same infusion, used as a lotion, will act as a hair and scalp conditioner (Conway).

Raspberry fruit

Raspberry is grown mostly for its delicious-tasting fruit, which can be made into a syrup or vinegar; traditionally, it was used to treat feverish states.

Second level processes

The marketing step, which provides for the understanding and tracking of customers want and needs.

BAY, or LAUREL

Laurus nobilis

Originally from the Mediteranean area, but widely cultivated now. The name ‘Bay’ is French baie, a contraction of Latin baccae, berries, or better, baccae lauri.

In Greek mythology, Daphne fled from Apollo, and was changed into a bay tree, which from that time became sacred to him (Clair). Did the priestess chew bay leaves before delivering the oracle? Palaiseul suggests that the leaves chewed would put them in a favourable state. Every sanctuary to Apollo had a bay tree, and none could be found where the soil was unfavourable to the tree’s growth. No worshipper could share in the rites who did not have a crown of laurel on his head or a branch in his hand (Philpot). Since Apollo was the god of poetry, it follows that the crown of bay leaves became the customary award in the universities to graduates in rhetoric and poetry (Clair); we still speak of the “Poet Laureate” as the highest award for a poet in this country. Bachelor is from French bachilier, and Latin baccalaureus – laurel berry. Students who took their degree were not expected to marry, so single men are still bachelors (Wilks). The staff of bay of a reciting poet was assumed to assist his inspiration, just as the bay rod in the hand of a prophet or diviner was assumed to help him to see hidden things. That is why the use of bay played an essential part in the oracular ceremony at Delphi, to name but the most famous (Philpot).

Bay was used at weddings in a similar way to rosemary (Andrews. 1898) (see Rosmarinus officinalis). It featured in weddings in Burgundy, when, decorated with ribbons, a bay used to be hoisted to the highest chimney of the wedding house by the best man and six assistants. Then a bottle of brandy would be broken over it, and healths drunk, as guests sang:

Il est planté, le laurier.

Le bon vin l’arrose

Qu’il amème aux mariés

Ménage tout rose,

Tout rose (Baker.1977).

This is a lightning tree, and a protector from lightning, which was believed powerless to hurt a man standing by one (Dyer. 1889), one of the “vulgar errors” listed by Aubrey (Aubrey. 1686). But people have been known to carry branches of it over their heads in a storm (Waring). “He who carrieth a bay leaf shall never take harm from thunder” (Browne. 1646), and Culpepper added to the belief – “ … neither Witch nor Devil, Thunder nor Lightning, will hurt a Man in the Place where a Bay-tree is”. As garlic protected the boats from storms and the evil eye, so laurel protected them from lightning (Bassett). It was said (by Pliny) that the emperor Tiberius wore a laurel chaplet during thunderstorms for this reason. In the New Forest, the bay was planted because of the protection it gave from lightning and forest fires, but also because it averted evil (Boase), and in East Anglia, a bay (or holly) growing near a house has the same effect (G E Evans. 1966).

There are many more superstitions attached to the bay. The crackling of the leaves in the fire was a good omen. But if they just smouldered, the signs were not so good (M Baker. 1980). It used to be said that the decay of the tree was an omen of disaster, just as oaks were. Every Roman emperor solemnly planted one by the Capitol, and it was said to wither when he was about to die. Before the death of Nero, though the winter was very mild, all these trees withered at the roots; a great pestilence in Padua was preceded by the same phenomenon (Evelyn. 1678). It was the custom, too, for a successful general to plant a laurel at his triumph in a shrubbery originally set by Livia. Hence, bay is a symbol of glory (Leyel. 1937), or triumph, and as it is evergreen, of eternity (Ferguson). Shakespeare speaks of this superstition :

‘Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay,

The bay-trees in our country all are wither’d (Richard II. 2. 4.7).

See also Holinshed : “in this year 1399 in a maner throughout all the realme of England, old baie-trees withered, and contrary to all men’s thinking grew greene againe, a strange sight, and supposed to import some unknowne event”.

It was believed in ancient Greece that spirits could be cast out by the laurel, and a bough was often fixed over the door in cases of illness (Philpot). That is why in ancient times a man would put a bay leaf in his mouth when he got up in the morning (Durham). That, though, can be quite rational, for a bay leaf has antiseptic properties, so that chewing one first thing was a good cleanser (like toothpaste) for a furry tongue. The practice on Chios of bathing in water to which bay and hazel leaves have been added (Argenti & Rose), must surely be another protective measure. Similarly, if a baby is born feet first, it will be lamed in an accident while still young, unless bay leaves are immediately rubbed on its legs (Waring). Aubrey mentions that branches of bay were strewn on coffins at 17th century funerals, and Jersey burial customs required the coffin to be covered with laurel and ivy (L’Amy). It used to be the custom in some parts of Wales for a funeral to be preceded by a woman carrying bay. She sprinkled the leaves on the road at intervals (J Mason). It is a symbol of resurrection, for seemingly dead trees often revive from the roots (Drury. 1994).

Cornelius Agrippa said that a sick magpie puts a bay leaf into her nest to cure herself (Berdoe), and, according to Aelian (De nature anim.), the pigeons put laurel sprigs in their nests to protect their young against the evil eye. The same use was noted in Morocco, where people would insure their ploughs against the evil eye by making some part of them in laurel wood. It was used for love divination charms in this country. A St Valentine’s Eve charm was to put two bay leaves across the pillow, after having sprinkled them with rose water, and saying:

Good Valentine, be kind to me, In dream let me my true love see (Dyer. 1889). Another charm from Devonshire called for five leaves, one pinned at each corner and the fifth in the middle of the pillow. The operator of this charm had to say the rhyme seven times, and count seven, seven times over at each interval:

Sweet guardian angels, let me have What I most earnestly do crave – A Valentine endued with love, Who will both true and constant prove.

The future husband would appear in a dream (Vickery. 1995). The same number of leaves, to be disposed in the same pattern, was the rule at Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire (Rudkin). Usually, the girl had to put on a clean nightgown for the operation, often inside out (Drury. 1986). If a girl writes her lover’s name with a pin on a laurel leaf, and puts it in her bosom, the writing will turn red if he is true to her (Leather). That comes from Herefordshire, but surely no-one actually tried the charm.

It is said that lovers should pick a twig from a laurel bush, break it in two, and each keep a piece (Igglesden). Why? The dream books had something to say of the meaning of bay-tree dreams. For a man to dream of one, it is a sign that he will marry a rich and beautiful wife, but have no success in his business undertakings. It is a good thing for physicians and poets to dream of it (Raphael). Wasn’t a bay chaplet the proper accolade for a poet?

Bay had its ordinary uses, in addition to the medicinal and folkloric. Lupton tells us that “if there be branches of bay wrapt up or laid among cloths or books, it will keep the same safe from moths, worms and other corruptions”. It was said too, in the 10th century collection called the Geopontica, that if a water supply was bad, it could be made wholesome by steeping laurel in it (Rose). Bay Rum has nothing to do with this tree; oil of bay is distilled from the fresh leaves of Pimenta acris, and is used solely for Bay Rum and Florida Water for toilet articles (Grieve. 1933).

Both the leaves and berries have been used in medicine. Pomet described the berries as “cephalick, nemotick, alexipharmick, and anti-colick; they mollifie, discuss, expel Wind, open Obstructions, provoke Urine and the Terms, facilitate the travel of Women in Labour, and help Crudities in the Stomach. They are good for the Nerves in Convulsions and Palsies, give ease in the most extream Colicks, and take away the After-Pains of Women in Child-Bed”. Evelyn, earlier, had called them emollient, sovereign in affectioins of the nerves, collics, gargarisms, baths, salves, and perfumes …” “… taken in wine [they] are good against all venom and poison … [and] the juice pressed out [of the leaves] is a remedy for pain in the eares, and deafnesse, if it be dropped in with old wine and oile of Roses …”(Evelyn, Gerard). We are told, too, that “pigeons and blackbirds when suffering from loss of appetite, eat bay leaves as a tonic” (Hulme. 1895), and they “heal stingings of bees and wasps, and do away all swellings” (Bartholomew Anglicus). A few bay leaves soaked in brandy formed a cure for colic in Illinois. One to four teaspoonsfuls of the result would be given (Hyatt). We have already seen that the berries, too, were used for the complaint. And “it is reported that common drunkards were accustomed to eat in the morning fasting two leaves thereof against drunkennesse” (Gerard), but that, as we have already seen, may very well be to get rid of a hangover and furry tongue. The most engaging of the early leechdoms is one from Langham, aimed at “one that is stricken with the Fayrie”. The treatment was to “spread oyle de Bay on a linnen cloth, and lay it above the sore, for that will drive it into every part of the body; but if the sore be above the heart, apply it beneath the sore, and to the nape of the necke”.

MORNING GLORY

Rivea corymbosa, the revered ololiuqui of the Aztecs, was one of the most important hallucinogens of ancient Mexico at the time of the conquest. The seeds, which contain alkaloids closely related to LSD (Wasson, Hofmann & Ruck), were used to induce a ritually divinatory trance (Norbeck). Another New World hallucinogen is COHOBA, growing in the northern part of South America, particularly in the Orinoco basin. A snuff, known as yopy, or parica, is made from the powdered seeds, and is one of the most famous New World hallucinogens. The original inhabitants of Haiti made this narcotic snuff, which they took through a bifurcated tube (Youngken), and in fact it was much used in religious ceremonies over most of the area (Hostos). Lewin described the use among one of the Brazilian tribes: “… begin to take Parica snuff … they assemble in pairs, everyone with a (bamboo) tube containing Parica in his hand, and … everyone blows the contents of his tube with all his strength into the nostrils of his partner. The effects produced in these generally dull and silent people are extraordinary. They become very garrulous and sing, scream and jump about in wild excitement…” Banisteriopsis caapi is another South American narcotic, inseparably submerged in the total culture of the people who take it. Ayahuasca, a Quechua word meaning ‘vine of the dead’, or; ‘vine of the souls’, is its Peruvian name. Partakers often experience a kind of “death”, and the separation of body and soul. Those who “die” are reborn in a state of greater wisdom. It serves, too, for prophecy, divination, etc., But it may be taken at funeral ceremonies, and., in other contexts, by a shaman (or ayahuasquero) to diagnose an illness or divine its cure, especially for those who believe themseleves bewitched, or to establish the identity of an enemy (Reichel-Dolmatoff), when evil magic would be “returned to its perpetrator” (Dobkin de Rios. 1970). The effects may be violent and with unpleasant after-effects, especially when the bark is boiled, and certainly when other toxic plants are mixed in. Nausea and vomiting are almost always early characteristics; this is followed by pleasant euphoria and visual hallucinations, but few have ever admitted that they find it a pleasant experience, for they drink it to learn about things, persons or events which could affect the society as a whole, or its individuals (Kensinger).

Hamamelis virginica > WITCH HAZEL

PALSYWORT

An old name for COWSLIP, which shows that it must have been used for that complaint. It must have been the trembling or nodding of the flowers that suggested it (Grigson. 1955). The Regimen Sanitatus Salernitanum had commended the cowslip as a cure
for palsy or paralysis (hence another old name, Herb Paralysy). Gerard repeated the prescription – “cowslips are commended against the pain of the joints called the gout, and slacknesse of the sinues, which is the palsie”.

PALM (PALM SUNDAY)

In Lincolnshire, HAZEL was often used as “palm” on Palm Sunday, and kept green the year round by putting it in water. In the south of the county, these “palms” were preserved for the express purpose of protection from thunder and lightning (Gutch & Peacock). YEW acted as “palm” in many parts of Britain, and was actually called Palm in a number of areas. In 1709 a “palm-tree” was planted in the churchyard of St Dunstan’s, Canterbury, and the accounts of Woodbury, in Devonshire, for 1775 refer to “ a yew or palm tree planted ye south side of the Church” (Tyack). But it was the Goat Willow (Salix capraea) whose catkins were most often used as ‘palm’, and was the English embodiment of the tradition. In medieval times, a wooden figure representing Christ riding on an ass was sometimes drawn in procession, and the people scattered their branches in front of the figure as it passed (Ditchfield. 1891). Flora Thompson tells how sprays of sallow catkins were worn in buttonholes for church-going in her day, and how they were brought indoors to decorate the house. They should not be brought in before Palm Sunday, though – at least, that was the belief in Hampshire, for that would be most unlucky (Boase). At Whitby, palm crosses were made, and studded with the blossoms at the ends, and then hung from the ceiling (Gutch). Similarly in County Durham, where the branches were tied together so as to form a St Andrew’s cross, with a tuft of catkins at each point (Brockie). These Durham crosses were kept for the whole of the coming year (M Baker. 1980).

JACKFRUIT

Artocarpus heterophyllus
A near relative of Breadfruit, but the fruits are much larger, and, astonishingly, may weigh as much as 26 pounds or more (Tosco). The tree is now grown in all tropical countries, but it is economically important only
in tropical Asia. The enormous size of these fruits convinced the Negritos of Malaysia that this was the original, or archetypal, fruit, from which all others are descended (Endicott). Southern Indian symbolism equates the Jackfruit tree with the life-span of the family and its ancestral house, so it is a sacred tree there (Rival). One will be planted at the south-west corner of a house, to be associated, not with the ghost of an original family member, but with all the ancestors of the house and the past and present family group that it shelters. The tree therefore is a “metaphor” for the “longevity of the house-family group” (Uchimayada). But it is feared in Jamaica, where no driver will agree to carry them – “they think it attracts duppies, and will cause an accident” (Newall. 1981).