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).