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”.