CHINESE LANTERN

(Dichrostachys glomerata) A shrub from central Africa, whose roots are chewed and macerated, then
put on snake or scorpion bites to remove the poison. Leaves, also used for the purpose, are said to produce local anaesthesia. An extract of the leaves, mixed with salt, is applied to sore eyes. In southern Malawi, the roots and leaves are used as a toothache cure (Palgrave & Palgrave). A related species, D. mutans, is used in Ambo (Zambia) boys’ puberty medicines. Three incisions are made on the abdomen and on the back, and a compound made of burnt wool of he-goat, burnt penis of a particular lemur, and the scraped roots of this shrub, is inserted. The he-goat is a symbol of strong sexual powers; the lemur is believed to have a strong penis, and the wood of this shrub is exceptionally hard (Stefaniszyn).

CHANGELINGS

Part of fairy lore, changelings are the fairy substitutes for human babies that they have abducted. There are standard procedures, often violent, for forcing the fairy abductors to return the true child and take away the changeling. Sometimes the procedure involves plants, as with FOXGLOVE, for instance. The suspected changeling is bathed in the juice, and fairystruck children had to be given the juice of twelve (or ten, some say), leaves of foxglove (Wilde. 1902). Or a piece of the plant could be put under the bed. If it is a changeling, the fairies would be forced to restore the true child (Mooney). Simpler still, put some leaves on the child itself, and the result would be immediate (Gregory). And instructions from County Leintrim advised a suspicious parent to “take lusmore [an Irish name for foxglove] and squeeze the juice out. Give the child three drops on the tongue, and three in each ear. Then place it [the suspected changeling] at the door of the house on a shovel (on which it should be held by someone) and swing it out of the door on the shovel three times, saying “If you’re a fairy, away with you”. If it is a fairy child, it will die that night; but if not it will surely begin to mend” (Spence. 1949). A Scottish way to get rid of a suspected changeling was to build the fire with ROWAN branches, and to hold the child in the thick of the smoke. The brat would disappear up the chimney, and the true child would be returned (Aitken).

CATARRH

was cured at one time by taking the powder made from CONKERS as a snuff. The Pennsylvania Germans used it that way (Fogel), but this was quite an early habit (Thornton), and the idea was to grate them up and use the powder to make one sneeze. Apparently it was recommended not only as a powder, but also as an infusion or decoction to take up the nostrils. SANICLE can be used to treat catarrh (an infusion of the astringent leaves) (Conway). Smoking the crushed berries of VIRGINIAN JUNIPER is an American domestic remedy for catarrh (H M Hyatt). The fern known as POLYPODY was made in Scotland into a medicine for catarrh (Beith), and FENUGREEK is also used as a traditional treatment for the condition (Schauenberg & Paris), who also suggest that the infusion of the flowers of SMALLLEAVED LIME was used.

CATCHTHORN

(Zizyphus abyssinica) In Malawi, an extremely potent alcoholic drink called kachaso is made from the berries (Palgrave & Palgrave). The leaves are chewed as an aphrodisiac, and a root decoction is used as an abortifacient, while the root infusion is taken for dysentery. There is a lot of tannin in both the bark and leaves, so its use for dysentery probably depends on this. A powder prepared by drying and pounding is used to rub into incisions made on the chest in cases of pneumonia (Palgrave & Palgrave).

WALL RUE / Asplenium ruta-muraria

One sometimes finds cases of using rue-fern instead of rue itself in ritual. It could be used, for instance, by a jilted girl, who could wait in the church porch while the man was being married to someone else. She could then throw a handful of wall-rue at him when they came out, with “May you rue this day as long as you live” (Leather) (see also RUE).

WAHOO / Euonymus atropurpureus

An American species whose name comes from the Dakota word wan-hu. It has a digitalin-like action on the heart, and it became a popular heart medicine in American domestic medicine (Weiner). The Indians had already used it for other medicinal purposes – Winnebago women, for instance, used to drink a decoction made from the inner bark for uterine troubles (Gilmore), and the Meskwaki, whose name for the shrub means “weak-eye tree”, used it for just that. The inner bark is steeped, to make a solution with which to bathe the eyes, and a tea was made from the root bark for the same purpose (H H Smith. 1928).

VIRGINIAN SKULLCAP / Scutellaria laterifolia

Cherokee women used to drink the herb infusion to cure suppressed menstruation, and there is a recipe for St Vitus’s Dance from Alabama: “one ounce skullcap, one ounce feverweed (Verbena syriaca, perhaps?), one ounce Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium). Take half of each one, put in a quart jar filled with boiling water, and seal. Let it stand for two hours, then take a wineglassful three times a day” (R B Browne). This plant has been called Mad-dog, or Mad-dog Herb (House; Lloyd), because it was used to treat rabies, after a Dr van der Veer experimented with it in 1772 (Weiner).

VIRGINIAN JUNIPER / Juniperus virginiana

Sometimes known as Pencil Juniper or Pencil Cedar – no other wood has been found that has just the right physical properties for the casing of lead pencils (Harper). But by the end of World War II, it had become extremely scarce, so it had to be replaced for pencil wood by Red Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens). (Lewington). Clothes chests are made of it, too, for the smell of the wood repels moths. Smoking crushed juniper berries is an American domestic medicine for catarrh (H M Hyatt), and earlier, Indian peoples had used it for a variety of ailments. Both leaves and berries boiled together were taken for coughs. Twigs were burned and the smoke inhaled for a cold in the head (Gilmore). The Kiowa chewed the berries as a remedy for canker sores in the mouth (Vestal & Schultes), while the Natchez used it in some way for mumps (Weiner).

LUNGWORT / Pulmonaria officinalis

The name comes from the spotted leaves, the signature of the lungs, it was felt, so by that doctrine, they were used for diseased lungs, further boosted by the generic name Pulmonaria. Actually, it has been claimed that they are of some value (Brownlow), and they are still used in infusion for lung infections and respiratory disorders (Schauenberg & Paris). A leechdom for lung disease was actually used in Anglo-Saxon times (Cockayne), and in the mid-eighteenth century, Hill was still prescribing the leaf decoction for “coughs, shortness of breath, and all disorders of the lungs”. The legend that accounts for these spotted, or blotched, leaves, is that during the flight into Egypt, some of the Virgin’s milk fell on the leaves while she was nursing the infant Jesus, causing the white blotches on them, hence names like Virgin Mary’s Milkdrops (Macmillan), and Spotted Mary (Grigson. 1955), among others. Another version of the legend tells that it was her tears that spotted the leaves, for the plant was growing on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross. That, incidentally, is why it is unlucky to dig it up from the garden (Britten & Holland). The relevant names are Lady Mary’s Tears, from Dorset, Virgin Mary’s Tears (Macmillan). Double, or even treble, names for flowers are often references to two-coloured, or changing coloured, flowers, and Lungwort is one of them, so there are names like Adam-and-Eve, or Joseph-and-Mary for this plant, even Faith, Hope and Charity, from Dorset (Udal). Twelve Apostles is an old name from Somerset (Tongue. 1965), and there is a folk song with this title:

LUCKY HAND,

or St John’s Hand, so called because it had to be prepared on St John’s Eve. It is made from the roots 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

LUCERNE / Medicago sativa

A fodder plant, but large quantities may be poisonous to livestock; it is known that it may cause jaundice in horses (North), but owing to its vitamin and mineral content, it has a reputation for increasing the speed and stamina of racehorses (it has long been used by Arabs to feed their purebred horses (Schauenberg & Paris), and human athletes. It is a body-builder, and reduces acidity (A W Hatfield). In Morocco, when a newly delivered mother has no milk, she is given a kind of very liquid porridge made of pounded lucerne seeds, for this is supposed to give milk to cows (Legey).

LOUSEWORT / Pedicularis sylvatica

Not because it can deal with lice, but because, so it was thought, causes them.
“It filleth sheep and other cattell that feed in medowes where this groweth, full of lice”, according to Gerard, but it is a belief still current.

LOTUS TREE / Zizyphus spina-christi

A small tree from the Near east and eastwards into India. This is a sacred plant, often
used to mark boundaries between lands of different villages. Some believe that the hedge surrounding Paradise is made of this. When a Lotus-tree reaches the age of 40 years, it often becomes the abode of some dead saint, so it is therefore a dangerous thing to cut down an old tree (Hanauer).

LOVAGE / Ligusticum scoticum

A reputed aphrodisiac, but only in all probability as a result of misunderstanding the name Lovage, which was Loveache in Middle English, levesche in Old French (modern French is livèche), levisticum in late Latin, and thence to Ligusticum. It appears in Roumanian folklore as a protective plant that could be used as well as wormwood or hedge hyssop to repel evil forces (Beza).

It was used quite extensively in earlier times for medicinal purposes, particularly (in Scotland) to combat scurvy (Grigson. 1955), for the leaves and stalks are edible, “a plant much in use in the western parts [of Scotland and the Isles] as a food” (Pennant). The leaf stalks were blanched once like celery (the leaves taste rather like celery, too), and the young stems were also candied, like Angelica (Rohde). The roots can be candied, too, and the seeds furnish an oil that is used to flavour candy (Sanford).

Lovage is used for a sore throat remedy in Indiana. Cut up the root and fry it in lard, and apply that to the throat as a poultice (Tyler).

LONDON PLANE / Platanus x acerifolia

It used to be said that it thrived in London because it shed its bark, the argument being that in doing so the tree could “breathe” (Ackermann), a fallacy, of course, for trees do not “breathe” through their bark. Many people believed that the London Plane was an unhealthy tree to live near. It may perhaps be true, for there is a theory that the small spicules which form the fruit swarm in the air surrounding the trees and cause bronchial catarrh and pneumonia, as well as certain throat affections (Brimble). Certainly, children make itching powder from the fruits.

LONDON PRIDE / Saxifraga x urbinum

A hybrid, S spathularis x S umbrosa, introduced in the 18th century by Mr London, the royal gardener of the time. So, to make any sense, it ought to be London’s Pride. But nobody ever worried about it, and almost from the moment it was introduced it has been a favourite garden plant, especially in cottage gardens. One of the many Devonshire names given to it is Bird’s Eye (Friend. 1882), descriptive, of course, as is more obviously the case when the name is given to the speedwells. There was a belief that if you gather Bird’s Eye, the birds will come and peck your eyes out, or it will be your mother who suffers the fate. That was certainly the case with the speedwells, but it does not necessarily follow that London Pride protects itself in the same way

LAMB’S TONGUE PLANTAIN / Plantago media

It will cure blight on fruit trees. Rub a few green leaves on the affected part of the tree, and the cure will be immediate. It is often found growing underneath trees in orchards (Grieve. 1931).

LADY’S TRESSES / Goodyera repens

More properly, Creeping Lady’s Tresses, an American species. The Mohegan Indians
applied the mashed leaves to prevent thrush in infants (Weiner). It is also known as Rattlesnake Plantain in America, for the white-veined leaves looked like snakeskin to the early herbalists, who took it as the sign for virtues against snakebite (Cunningham & Côté).

KISSING COMFITS

SEA HOLLY roots were preserved in sugar and sold as Candied Eringo, or Kissing Comfits, Colchester being the centre of the trade. They were sold until as late as the 1860s (Grigson. 1955), and were said to be good for those that “have no delight or appetite to venery”, and were “nourishing and restoring the aged, and amending the defects of nature in the younger” (Gerard). Likewise René Rapin, in a Latin poem on gardens, 1706 (in translation):

Grecian Eringoes now commence their Fame Which worn by Brides will fix their Husband’s Flame

And check the conquests of a rival Dame. There is, too, a reference in Dryden’s translation of Juvenal’s Satires; he is talking about libertines: Who lewdly dancing at a midnight ball

For hot eryngoes and fat oysters call.
The best known quote is from Shakespeare. Falstaff, in Merry wives of Windsor, says: “Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of ‘Green Sleeves’; hail kissing comfits, and snow eringoes”.

VIPER’S GRASS / Scorzonera humilis

The common name shows that this would be a herb with which to treat snakebite. See Gerard, for example: “It is reported by those of great judgement, that Viper’s-grasse is most excellent against the infections of the plague, and all poysons of venomous beasts, and especially to cure the bitings of vipers, if the juyce or herbe be drunke…”.

LAD’S LOVE

A well-known name given to SOUTHERNWOOD (Artemisia abrotanum). There have been a number of attempts to explain the name, one being the use of an ointment that young men used to promote the growth of a beard (Leyel. 1937). That was certainly done, for we have 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”. The likeliest explanation seems to lie in the courting customs of Fenland youths, described by Porter. 1969. A few sprigs of the plant were generally added to the nosegay that courting youths used to give the girls, and the plant was quite prominent in other customs in that area. A youth would cut a few sprigs to put in his buttonhole. He used to walk, sniffing ostentatiously at his buttonhole, through groups of girls. If the girls went by and took no notice, he knew he would have to try again, but if they turned and walked slowly back towards him, then he knew they had noticed his Lad’s Love. He would then take his buttonhole and give it to the girl of his choice. If she was willing, she would also smell the southernwood, and the two would set out together on their first country walk.

VERTIGO

In some parts of Germany, to cure dizziness, it was recommended that the patient should run, naked, after sunset, through a field of FLAX; the flax will take the dizziness to itself. (Dyer. 1889). The seeds of MELEGUETA PEPPER, with a leaf of Sweet basil, ground together and cooked in palm oil, form a Yoruba (Nigeria) medicine to cure giddiness (Verger). The juice of GREEN PURSLANE is recommended in Mayan medical texts for giddiness (Roys).

KINNIKINNICK

An Algonquin word, apparently meaning “that which is mixed”, usually referring to tobacco. BEARBERRY, for example, actually has this as a name, for American Indians smoked the dried leaves, either with ordinary tobacco, making the mix that warrants the name, or without any tobacco (Sanford). The Chippewa smoked the mixture, in the ordinary way, and also, they claimed, “to attract game” (Densmore). Bearberry was not the only plant to be called kinnikinnick – SILKY CORNEL (Cornus amomum) was another, and so was REDOSIER DOGWOOD (Cornus stolonifera). The inner bark of the former was used, by the Menomini Indians, for example, as a tobacco substitute (H H Smith. 1923), and so was the bark of the latter (see Bergen. 1899, Chamberlin. 1911, etc.,).

VARICOSE VEINS

According to Somerset practice, an ointment made from MALLOW or MARSH MALLOW roots and unsalted lard was used to treat the condition, equally useful for sore feet, too (Tongue. 1965; Page 1978), and bathing the feet in which the flowers of MARIGOLD had been infused, was another Somerset way of dealing with the problem (Tongue. 1965). At one time the roots of BRISTLY OX-TONGUE were used, bound to the affected part (see Tusser). CYPRESS cones were also used (Palaiseul).

KING’S EVIL

Scrofula was so called because the kings of England and France claimed to have the ability to heal it by their touch, a gift conferred by God through the oil used at their coronation. Edward the Confessor was the first English monarch to touch for scrophula, and the last was Queen Anne, but the ritual remained in the Book of Common Prayer till 1744 (Simpson & Roud).

VAMPIRES

GARLIC tied in bundles over a house door will keep out a vampire, and stuffed in the mouth of a corpse will keep the vampire (if there were suspicions that the deceased might be one) quiet in his grave (Gifford). These are Balkan superstitions, and there were Roumanian beliefs that vampires left their graves on St Andrew’s Eve, and walked about the houses in which they used to live. So before nightfall every woman took some garlic and anointed the door locks and window casements with it (Miles). In Hungarian folklore, a vampire’s grave could be recognised by two holes on the tombstone. Stop these holes with garlic and you could make sure the vampire would stay there.

The correct wood to be driven through a vampire’s heart is ASH, though hawthorn and rowan are also mentioned. In the Balkans, it was a BLACKTHORN stake that impaled a vampire (Kemp).

KIDNEY COMPLAINTS

PARSLEY root tea is still prescribed for kidney trouble (Rohde, Hyatt). Gypsies used the leaves for the same purpose. Gerard wrote that the leaves “… take away stoppings, and … provoke urine; which thing the roots likewise do notably perform …”. The herb is, indeed, a well known diuretic. WHORTLEBERRIES are used sometimes; both the berries and the leaves are used in an Irish cure for kidney troubles (Ô Súilleabháin). In the north of Scotland, they were used for dissolving kidney stones (Beith), as the name Kidneywort, or Kidneyweed, proclaim. WALL PENNYWORT was used particularly against kidney trouble and stone. Indiana folk medicine advised a tea made from the roots of HONEY LOCUST (Gleditsia triacanthos) for kidney trouble (Brewster).

KIDNEY BEAN / Phaseolus vulgaris

In Italy, beans are distributed among the poor on the anniversary of a death (Grieve. 1931). In the west of England they say that kidney beans will not grow unless they are planted on a special day, the 3 May in some places (Waring), but there is no great agreement on the actual day. It could be as late as Stow-on-the-wold Fair Day, which is 12 May, or as early as St George’s Day, (23 April) (Pope). Kidney Beans are good for the kidneys, so it is often said, but this is a well-known remedy. They have been used in France till very recently for kidney and bladder disorders (Palaiseul). Maya medical texts prescribe them for, among other complaints, hiccups (Roys).

JENNY GREENTEETH

The name of a nursery bogey that is actually the same as DUCKWEED. Little children were warned to stay away from ponds that were covered with the green weed, otherwise Jenny Greenteeth would drag them down and drown them. Duckweed was actually called Jenny Greenteeth in some parts (see DUCKWEED).

JIMSONWEED

That is, Jamestown Weed, one of the names given to THORN-APPLE (Datura stramonium). The oft-quoted story is that English soldiers, sent to Jamestown to put down the uprising known as Bacon’s Rebellion, in 1676, gathered young plants of this species and cooked them as potherbs, “the effect of which was a very pleasant Comedy; for they turn’d natural Fools upon it for several days …” (Safford).

JOHN THE CONQUEROR ROOT

Said to have been a love charm much used by men. It was a piece of dried root with a prong or pike growing out of it, an obvious piece of phallic symbolism. It was carried in a little chamois leather bag, or one made of red cloth. The origin of the root was kept secret by the people who sold the charm, but it is said to have been BOG ST JOHN’S WORT (Valiente).

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE / Helianthus tuberosus

A North American plant, and the name Jerusalem artichoke has no geographical
significance. It is merely a corruption of the Italian girasole articiocco. Girasole means turn-sun, a reference to the quite imaginary practice of the sunflowers in turning their heads to follow the sun. Cutting an artichoke in half and rubbing the cut side on the roots of the hair was an old country remedy against baldness (Quelch).

JERUSALEM OAK / Chenopodium botrys

It gets its common name because the young leaves look like miniature versions of those of the oak. This is a vermifuge (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk) – see, for example, the prescription from Alabama: for worms, one teaspoonful of the seed or the stalk tea mixed with syrup, three times a day (R B Browne). There is, too, a remedy, using the inner bark of this plant, boiled and mixed with molasses to make a candy. It also seems to have been used in some way for tuberculosis (R B Browne).