Daisies 281Arctium lappa Linnaeus, greaterburdock (Fuchs 1543, fig. 40)(Berwickshire,4Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides5) together with the Isle ofMan,6a pattern suggestive of overspills from Ireland,where the use has beenmarkedly widespread (see below).Though it might be supposed that cleans-ing the system has extended to treating rheumatic complaints,as has been thecase with some other herbs, the very different distribution of records forthose (Montgomeryshire,7Suffolk,8East Riding of Yorkshire9) lends no sup-port to such an assumption. Nor is there any apparent connection, similarly,
between any of the other uses of burdock recorded from Britain: for jaundice(South Uist in the Outer Hebrides10), urinary complaints (Berwickshire11),inflammatory tumours (‘much in use amongst the country people’for those,according to John Quincy in 171812), allaying nervousness (Isle of Man13)and, by application of a poultice of the bruised leaves to the soles of the feet,such other conditions as epilepsy, hysteria and convulsions (the ‘west of Eng-land’14and other (?) unspecified rural areas15).In Ireland the plant’s predominance as a cleansing herb has been particu-larly pronounced, with a bunching of records in Leinster. Otherwise, as inBritain, its applications have been very various and some of them differentones: for instance,for burns (Meath,16Wicklow17), cuts (Cavan18), flatulence(Donegal19) and to poultice boils (Sligo20).An ancient Irish remedy for scro-fula,21the glandular swellings it has more recently been deployed against,22may be the same as Quincy’s inflammatory tumours, however. And Irelandhas shared with Britain that same special cure for convulsions (Louth23) aswell as the uses for nervousness (Meath24), jaundice (Donegal25), rheumatism(Londonderry,26Cavan,27Limerick28),coldsand respiratory trouble(Cavan,29Mayo30) and, as a powerful diuretic, dropsy and kidney and urinary com-plaints (Ulster,31Cavan,32Wicklow33).Cirsium arvense (Linnaeus) Scopolicreeping thistleEurasia, North Africa; introduced into North America, AustralasiaSilybum marianum (Linnaeus) Gaertner milk thistle, blessed thistle, lady’s thistle, speckled thistlesouthern Europe, south-western Asia, North Africa; introduced intowestern and central Europe, North and South America, AustralasiaBecause of the vagueness with which the name thistle has been applied infolk medicine, it is difficult in most cases to be at all sure to which particularspecies any one record relates. Any valued for a milky juice applied as a wartcure (sometimes known as ‘milk thistle’,‘soft thistle’ or ‘soft white thistle’) isalmost certainly one of the sow-thistles (Sonchus spp.), and all records forthat use are therefore listed under that genus. One or more other kinds seemto have been well known as a specific for whooping cough, boiled in newmilk, just in one tight group of counties in the north-eastern corner of whatis now the Irish Republic: Cavan,34Monaghan35and above all Louth.36Though recorded under some names which could refer to various species,such as ‘larger kind of thistle’,‘white thistle’,‘crisp thistle’and ‘bracket thistle’,282 Arctium
others—‘blessed thistle’,‘lady’s thistle’ and ‘speckled thistle’—are indicativeof Silybum marianum, even though that is quite rare in Ireland and certainlyintroduced. If that identification is correct, possibly the sole source of it forherbal medicine was cottage gardens, in which case these records do notrightly belong in this book. ‘Blessed thistle’ has also been used for loss ofappetite in Meath.37That name originally referred in learned medicine tothe southern European Cnicus benedictus Linnaeus, also known as ‘holy this-tle’, which was recommended in herbals for colds. That could account for arecord from Cavan38of ‘holly thistle’as a cure for those.That leaves a residue of records which may belong to one or more of thevery common wild, purple-flowered thistles such as Cirsium arvense and C.vulgare (Savi) Tenore. The ‘Scotch thistle’ or ‘bull thistle’ still employed forkidney infection in Donegal39is presumably one of those. But the identity ofthe species employed as a wound plant in Co. Dublin40and Limerick41isquite uncertain, and the same applies to the one whose tops,mixed with plan-tain and sorrel, have yielded a juice drunk for tuberculosis in Kildare.42Whatever their identity, records for true thistles thus seem to be Irishalmost exclusively. The sole exception is a thistle tea drunk in the Highlandsto dispel depression.43Serratula tinctoria Linnaeussaw-wortnorthern and central Europe, Siberia, Algeria; introduced into North AmericaThere is just one record, from Sussex, for Serratula tinctoria as a woundplant.44The species is still locally frequent in that county and thus plentifulenough to be utilised herbally.Centaurea cyanus Linnaeuscornflower, bluebottlesouth-eastern Europe; introduced into the rest of Europe, south-western Asia, North Africa, North America, AustralasiaThere is an apparently long-standing East Anglian tradition of collecting theheads of the once common cornfield weed Centaurea cyanus, bruising anddistilling them in water,and dropping the liquid into the eyes,to cure them ofinflammation or merely clear those of the elderly enough to make wearingglasses unnecessary (hence‘break spectacles water’). There is a recipe to thiseffect in a late seventeenth-century Suffolk household book which has sur-vived in a Norwich church.45The practice is referred to rather grudgingly by Daisies 283
284 Centaurea cyanusJohnGerard46and,though mentioned inat leastone later herbal,seems morelikelyto havebeen afolk use adopted by official medicine than viceversa.Lend-ing support to that is a twentieth-century Essex record of boiling the flowerswith chamomile heads and applying the mixtureas a compress to tired eyes.47Centaurea nigra Linnaeuscommon knapweed, hardheads; blackheads, blackbuttons (Ireland)western Europe; introduced into North America, AustralasiaAs a medicinal herb almost exclusively Irish, the common Centaurea nigrahas been used in that country principally for jaundice and liver trouble(Ulster,48Cavan,49Offaly,50Laois,51Wicklow52), the decoction of its roots inmilk rivalling dandelion as a treatment for that. That it has also been valuedas a cleansing tonic is suggested by its reputation for removing boils in Lim-erick53and—significantly, if drunk in a mixture with bur-dock—for curing scurvy in Wicklow.54On the Clare-Gal-way border the same preparation has been drunkfor ‘pains in the bones’ (presumablyrheumatism or osteoarthritis),55while inDonegal a much-favoured remedy local-ly for ‘the decline’ (presumably tubercu-losis) was seven stalks of this, seven of‘fairy lint’ (purging flax, Linum catharti-cum) and seven of maidenhair,pounded together and mixed withseven noggins of water drawnfrom a place where three streamsmeet56; it may well also be the ‘but-tonweed’ of which an infusion hasbeen drunk in Kerry for asthma.57It ispossible that more Irish records are hid-den within the numerous ones for plan-tain, for both that and knapweed have beenknown as ‘blackheads’ in Co. Dublin,58Done-gal59and no doubt other counties, too.The only British use recorded thatis certainly the same as any of the Irishones is a reputation for boils in Mont-gomeryshire60; this plant may, how-Centaurea nigra, common knapweed (Green 1902, fig. 354)
Daisies 285ever, be the ‘horse knaps’that has found favour for rheumatism in Furness.61Peculiar to Essex, apparently, is an infusion drunk as a digestive.62In the Isleof Man the one-time name lus-y-cramman-dhoo hints at a medicinal use butwhat that was has never been ascertained.63Lapsana communis LinnaeusnipplewortEurope, western and central Asia, North Africa; introduced into North America, AustralasiaUnder Gaelic names translating as ‘good leaf’ and ‘breast leaf’, Lapsana com-munis has had the special function in the Highlands of allaying the sorenessof the nipples of nursing mothers64(a function alleged to have been per-formed in Ireland by heath speedwell, Ve ronica officinalis65). This may alsohave been the purpose left undisclosed—on grounds of delicacy?—by themid-nineteenth-century author who knew the plant featured at that time invillage medicine in ‘parts of England’.66Ye t the fact that John Parkinson wasled to coin the name nipplewort only on learning of its use for this same par-ticular purpose in Prussia67seems to suggest that it had no vernacular namein English before that, which suggests in turn that the use may merely havebeen a late infiltration into the folk repertory of Britain.That in Ireland Lapsana communis has apparently been recorded only asan application to cuts, bruises or burns (Wexford,68Tipperary69) could beevidence in support of that possibility. On the other hand,a use for the breastmay well not have been revealed to the male or child enquirers responsible formost of the Irish folk records.Hypochaeris maculata Linnaeusspotted cat’s-earnorthern and central EuropeIn one districtin theYorkshire Pennines in the eighteenth century,Hypochaerismaculata was believedacurefor‘tetters’and other skin complaints—becauseof its spotted leaves, it has been (perhaps fancifully) suggested.70Sonchus arvensis Linnaeusperennial sow-thistleEurope, western Asia; introduced into other continentsSonchus asper (Linnaeus) Hillprickly sow-thistlecosmopolitan
Sonchus oleraceus Linnaeussmooth sow-thistlecosmopolitanSonchus arvensis, S. asper and S. oleraceus, three common weeds of cultiva-tion, have doubtless not been differentiated in folk medicine, the only recordof herbal use attributable to one of them specifically being the result of a Lin-colnshire user pointing out S. arvensis to a botanist.71Probably all three sharemuch the same properties, in particular the white juice that has given rise tothe names ‘milkweed’, ‘milkwort’ and ‘milk thistle’ in England and Irelandalike and been widely applied to warts in both countries. In Wales, however,where the plants’ association with pigs seems to have been particularly strong,with even a magical tinge, they are said to have been reserved for applying to286 SonchusSonchus oleraceus,smooth sow-thistle(Green 1902, fig. 376)
a gash made by the hoof or teeth of a hog.72Also, to the seventeenth-centuryEnglish antiquarian John Aubrey we owe an unlocalised record of the use ofthe heads for relieving cramp.73The Irish records have yielded only one additional use: for burns inWestmeath.74Mycelis muralis (Linnaeus) Dumortierwall lettuceEurope, Asia Minor, north-western Africa; introduced into NorthAmerica, New ZealandAccording to the Dublin botanist Caleb Threlkeld, writing in 1726,‘the poorpeople’in Ireland boiled Mycelis muralis in a posset to take against fevers.Ta raxacum officinale Weber, in the broad sensedandelionEurasia; introduced into North America, AustralasiaVying with elder and nettles as the wild plant drawn on most widely andheavily in the British Isles for folk medicine, dandelion also rivals the docksin the extent to which it is used and known for one purpose in particular: inthis case for promoting the flow of urine and thus assisting kidney and asso-ciated troubles in general. Renowned all over Europe for that diuretic effect,Ta raxacum officinale features in the folk records too near-universally for log-ging of those in terms of individual counties to serve any useful purpose.Even with that group of ailments set aside, there still remain 333 Britishand Irish records traced for dandelion’s numerous other uses. Chief amongthose, by a big margin, accounting for almost exactly one-quarter of thattotal, is the plant’s application to warts, a practice known from most parts ofboth countries.After that in popularity of use come coughs, colds and respi-ratory troubles (55 records). All the remaining leading uses are mainly orwholly Irish except for the plant’s service as a tonic to ‘cleanse the blood’ andpurge the system of skin complaints and boils; the combined total of 38records for that include several from southern English counties and parts ofScotland. Britain’s share of the large number of minor applications is alsomarkedly smaller than Ireland’s. These include indigestion in Dorset75andEssex,76corns in Devon,77stings in Somerset,78scarlet fever in Leicester-shire,79lip cancer in Norfolk,80ulcers in Argyllshire81and internal pains ingeneral in the Highlands.82Ireland’s use of the dandelion has been markedly more diverse thanBritain’s. The two countries’ combined total of 55 records for coughs, colds Daisies 287
and respiratory troubles includes a large number for‘consumption’, all 25 forthe last of these Irish. If the British and Irish records for application to livertrouble (24) and jaundice (22) are added together,those constitute the fourthlargest ailment overall—and the majority of them are Irish. So are most ofthose for use as a cleansing tonic (38 records jointly), for stomach pains orupsets (24) and for rheumatism (19). Heart trouble, however, seems an ex-clusively Irish affliction as far as the use of dandelion is concerned, and the 21records are noticeably numerous alongthe western coast from Leitrim to Limer-ick. Finally, in the long‘tail’of much moreminor applications,normal in the case ofmost widely used folk herbs, Ireland ap-pears to have had a monopoly with re-gard to cuts (Cavan,83Wicklow,84Limer-ick,85Kerry86), nervousness (Cavan,87Wicklow,88Limerick89),thrush (Co.Dub-lin,90Carlow,91Limerick92), sprains andswellings (Kildare,93Limerick94), weak orbroken bones (Limerick,95Kerry96),head-aches (Cavan,97Limerick98), diabetes(Kilkenny99), sore eyes (Roscommon100),external cancers (Carlow101), anaemia(specific record untraced102) and—theultimate cure—‘every disease’ (Tipper-ary103). Rather curiously, the only oneswith Irish records to complement Brit-ish ones are for indigestion (Donegal,104Carlow105) and corns (Co. Dublin106).Uniquely Irish also is the wide reputationdandelions are said to have once enjoyedin parts of the country for easing tooth-ache, allegedly because their much-toothed leaves were held to be a signa-ture.107Another belief associated with theleaves, recorded from Limerick, was thatto be effective as a tonic those with awhite vein had to be eaten by a man andthose with a red one by a woman.108288 Ta raxacum officinaleTaraxacum officinale, dandelion (Bock1556, p. 100)
Daisies 289Pilosella officinarum F. W. Schultz & Schultz ‘Bipontinus’Hieracium pilosella Linnaeusmouse-ear hawkweedtemperate and subarctic Europe, western Asia; introduced into North America, New ZealandUsually known simply as ‘mouse-ear’ and a cause of the misattribution ofrecords to mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium spp.) or forget-me-not (thegeneric name of which, Myosotis, has the same meaning), Pilosella offici-Pilosella officinarum,mouse-ear hawk-weed (Fuchs 1543,fig. 343)
290 Pilosella officinarumnarum has been a widely favoured herb for coughs, especially whoopingcough, and throat infections in parts of England (Hampshire,109Kent,110Suf-folk,111Staffordshire112) and the Isle of Man.113A specially Manx herb, it hasbeen used in that island, too, as a diuretic114as well as to ‘draw’splinters andpromote ‘healing pus’.115The name ‘felon herb’ recorded in Cornwall116hintsat one further use.Almost all those have been Irish uses also: for whooping cough inMeath117and Limerick,118for urinary trouble in Roscommon,119West-meath120and Wicklow,121and as a salve for burns (Wicklow122), whitlows(Meath123) and other sores (Cavan124).The concentration of records in the Isle of Man and the Irish counties oneither side of Dublin may possibly have some significance.Hieracium Linnaeushawkweedmainly arctic, alpine and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere; introduced into New ZealandAs Pilosella officinarum seems to have been known in general as ‘mouse-ear’,without the addition of ‘hawkweed’so favoured by book authors, it can prob-ably be safely taken that the plant recorded under the latter name as in use in‘Ireland’ (part unspecified) as a jaundice remedy125was one or more of thenumerous asexual microspecies of Hieracium. That the complaint is notamong the folk uses traced for mouse-ear adds strength to that assumption.Filago vulgaris LamarckF. germanica Linnaeus, not Hudsoncommon cudweedcentral and southern Europe, western Asia, North Africa, Canary Islands; introduced into North America, New ZealandAnaphalis margaritacea (Linnaeus) BenthamAmerican cudweed, pearly everlastingNorth America; introduced into EuropeUnder the name Centunculus (a generic name long used by botanists for theminuscule plant now called Anagallis minima (Linnaeus) E. H. L. Krause),William Turner described a herb ‘thought to be good for chafinge of anyeman’s flesh with goynge or rydinge’, for which reason it was known in hisnative Northumberland, he wrote,as‘Chaf[e]weed’and in Yorkshire as‘cud-weed’.126Though some authors127have argued that he must have been refer-ring to heath cudweed (Gnaphalium sylvaticum Linnaeus), as he separately
mentioned the species now known as Filago vulgaris under a different name,others128have assumed he meant the latternonetheless.Matters have not beenhelped by the fact that John Gerard129chose to illustrate what he called‘Eng-lish cudweede’with a figure of what is unambiguously G. sylvaticum—thoughit is apparent from the text that he understood by ‘cudweed’ and ‘chaffweed’various Filago and Gnaphalium species in just a vague, collective sense.130Fortunately, Matthias de l’Obel in 1576 was a model of clarity by com-parison: his figure is undoubtedly Filago vulgaris, which he says the commonpeople in the west of England pound, steep in oil and boil for use on spots,bruises, cuts and lacerations.131By the west of England he doubtless meantthe neighbourhood of Bristol, where he practised medicine on first arrivingas an immigrant, and Gnaphalium sylvaticum is much too scarce in that partof the country to have served as a herbal source.Though the use of the plant appears to have died out in England a centuryor so after de l’Obel wrote (John Parkinson in 1640 merely paraphrases hiswords), Filago vulgaris has borne a name in Manx, lus ny croshey, which hasbeen interpreted as implying a herbal application of some (unknown)kind.132At the same time ‘cudweed’ can be short for the American cudweedor pearly everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea, a garden plant which is onrecord as smoked like tobacco for a cough or headache in Suffolk.133Thiswas probably the ‘cudweed’reported from Wexford in the 1930s as a whoop-ing-cough cure.134Antennaria dioica (Linnaeus) Gaertnermountain everlasting, cat’s-ear, cat’s-footnorthern and central Europe, northern and western Asia,North America‘A plant that grows wild named cat’s-ear’ when chewed and mixed with cob-webs has been used in Clare for staunching bleeding from cuts.135Anten-naria dioica has a reputation as astringent and styptic, and happens to occurparticularly frequently in the calcareous turf of the Burren for which thatcounty is botanically renowned.Inula helenium Linnaeuselecampane, wild parsnip, horseheal, scabwortcentral Asia; introduced into Europe, western Asia, Japan, NorthAmerica, New ZealandInula helenium falls into the same category as greater celandine (Chelido-nium majus): an ancient herb largely fallen into disuse but lingering on stub- Daisies 291
292 Inula heleniumbornly in semi-wild conditions. Probably a native of central Asia, it was muchvalued by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and, serving for food as well asmedicine, was evidently a favourite subsistence plant of early Christian times,as in Ireland it is found on some of the islets off the coasts as well as on andaround ancient monastic sites more generally. Its ability to survive grazing bysheep probably accounts for this remarkable persistence.Inula helenium, elecampane (Bock 1556, p. 65)
A veterinary medicine as much as a human one, the plant’s roots containa white starchy powder extracted by boiling, which has been drunk in par-ticular for lung and chest complaints, pulmonary tuberculosis, whoopingcough and asthma (Norfolk,136Orkney137and the Isle of Man138as far asBritain is concerned).Wounds (in Sussex139) and toothache (in Cheshire140)are further ailments for which there are British records.In Ireland the lung and chest application has similarly been the main one(Cavan,141Wexfo rd142and doubtless—as the cough cure obtained from mea-can uilian or ‘wild parsnip’—Clare143and Limerick,144too).Pulicaria dysenterica (Linnaeus) Bernhardicommon fleabaneEurope, Asia Minor, North Africa; introduced into New Zealand(Folk credentials questionable) A plant of the herbals, hopefully identified bytheir authors with one celebrated in Classical times for insecticidal properties,Pulicaria dysenterica enjoyed a vogue for that purpose in what seem to havebeen relatively sophisticated circles and the only two allegedly folk recordssound suspiciously like hand-downs from book learning. In Devon it wasrecommended to be gathered and dried for burning every morning in roomsto rid them of flies,145and in Sussex it was one of four strewing herbs princi-pally employed to keep away fleas.145aThat those records are both fromsouthernmost England, despite the plant’s wide distribution elsewhere in theBritish Isles, supports the impression that it was at best a marginal interloperas far as the folk tradition was concerned. Tansy, mugwort and the worm-woods have amply served the same purpose instead.Solidago virgaurea LinnaeusgoldenrodEurasia; introduced into New ZealandIn learned medicine long popular as a wound herb, Solidago virgaurea has lin-gered on in use for that purpose in Sussex,146the East Riding of Yorkshire147and the Hebrides.148Martin Martin, to whom we owe our knowledge of itssurvival in the last-named, recorded it as an ingredient in two different oint-ments, one combined with ‘all-heal’(Stachys spp.?) and applied to wounds inLewis in the Outer Hebrides, the other smeared in Skye on fractures at thestage of healing when splints could be removed.149In Ireland, however, the ailments for which this common plant has beenrecorded in use are very different from those, so much so as to suggest thatnot only was it never a wound herb there (perhaps purple-loosestrife, Daisies 293
Lythrum salicaria, took its place?) but the treatment of wounds may neverhave been one of its functions in the British Isles folk repertory in its pristinestate. In Cavan,150where herbal uses are known with particular complete-ness, only heart trouble, stomach upsets and kidney problems feature in therecords. Stomach upsets are the function of the plant in Cork,151too. InLouth, on the other hand, its leaves have been boiled as a remedy for colds,152and it may be because that use extended to pulmonary tuberculosis that aninfusion was drunk in Londonderry for the spitting of blood.153In otherparts of Ulster,though, its reputation, and that a well-known one, was merelyfor curing flatulence.154Bellis perennis LinnaeusdaisyEurope, western Asia; introduced into North America, AustralasiaConsidering its near-ubiquity, it is striking that Bellis perennis has featured asa folk herb only to a limited extent. Though William Turner knew it in hisnative Northumberland as ‘banwort’, ‘because it helpeth bones to knytagaine’155(a statement repeated by Caleb Threlkeld who, though raised inCumberland, was probably merely parroting Turner), no further mention ofthat use has been discovered. Instead, as far as Britain is concerned, its func-tions subsequently seem to have been limited to serving as an ointment—either alone or combined with other herbs—for burns (Hampshire156) orcuts and bruises (the Highlands and Western Isles157), or as an infusion madefrom the flower-heads drunk for coughs and colds (Wiltshire158) or eye trou-bles (the Highlands159). But simply eating the flower-heads, for curing boils(Devon,160Dorset161) or toothache (Cumbria162), sounds like a procedurebased on magic rather than on any supposed chemical influence: two of themsufficed for toothache, but at least in Dorset seven or nine, those magic-ladennumbers, were required to heal a boil and had to be picked from plants grow-ing close enough to be covered with one foot.The plant is also on record in Ireland as an ointment for burns and as aneye lotion but in both cases much more widely: from at least six counties,but entirely different ones in the case of each and with no apparent geo-graphical patterns. As a cure for coughs and colds, however, records havebeen noted only from Cavan163and Mayo,164though it has been used inRoscommon165for headaches.A treatment for boils is known from Wexfordbut of a down-to-earth kind, involving boiling pieces with soap and sugar ina tin until the mixture turns black.166Cavan similarly appears to have been294 Solidago virgaurea
Daisies 295unique in finding a use for stomach and/or liver complaints.167It is especially in applying this plant to skin troubles,though, that Ireland differs most from Britain. Broadlyclassifiable under that head are records for ringwormfrom Leitrim,168whitlows169and chilblains170fromMeath, ‘blasts’ (facial swellings) from Carlow171anderysipelas from Donegal.172Tanacetum vulgare LinnaeustansyEurope, Siberia; introduced into NorthAmerica, AustralasiaThough convincingly a native of beaches andriversides in other parts of north-westernEurope, Tanacetum vulgare may owe its pres-ence in the British Isles wholly to human influ-ence and perhaps in large part to former culti-vation for herbal purposes. Significantly, itsGaelic name, recorded as early as 1698 fromSkye, translates as ‘French herb’. With proper-ties similar to wormwood, its primary usethrough the centuries and overmuch of Europe has been as a repel-lent: either drunk as an infusion topurge the system of intestinalworms (for which its effectiveness iswell attested) or strewn about in thefresh state to keep away any nox-ious insects and even mice. Recordsof the former practice in Britain havebeen traced from Lincolnshire,173Skye174and Orkney,175and of the latter from South Wales,176the East Riding ofYo r kshire,177Berwickshire178and the Highlands179—in other words, curiously, their known distributionsdo not overlap. In the days when it was believed thatinfections were transmitted by inhaling them,some of Orkney’s inhabitants so trusted in theplant’s effectiveness that they made a habit ofTanacetum vulgare, tansy (Brunfels 1530, p. 250)
296 Tanacetum vulgarecarrying a piece of it between their upper lip and their nose.180Similarly, tokeep at bay the influence of the ‘miasma’ arising from the ground that wassupposed to give rise to ague, country folk in Hampshire181and Sussex182took the precaution of lining their boots with pieces of the plant.A toxic oil powerful enough to rid the system of worms and other para-sites would have commended itself as an abortifacient, too,if taken in a quan-tity large enough, and the plant is on record as used for that purpose in Wilt-shire,183Gloucestershire184and the Cambridgeshire Fens.185In all three ofthose, however, it also had a reputation for aiding conception, presumablybecause of a separate relaxing effect. Such an effect could explain the drink-ing of tansy tea to counter palpitations in Gloucestershire,186rheumatismand indigestion in Essex187and period pains in Norfolk.188In the ‘north ofEngland’ where an alternative was to apply a hot compress of the plant to theseat of any rheumatic pain, drinking that tea three times a day was held toclear the system of any tendency to gout189; it was as an antidote to gout thatthe plant was once much used in Scotland also190(though possibly on therecommendation of John Gerard’s Herball, as a decoction of the root).Ireland’s uses seem to have been broadly similar but more thinly spread.As a vermicidal purge it has featured in Londonderry191and Louth192(andfor veterinary purposes in further counties, too); in ‘Ulster’, where it wasextensively grown in cottage gardens, it was valued as an emmenagogue ofmuch power193as well as for indigestion and pains in the joints, these lastrelieved by being bathed with the product of boiling the leaves in saltedwater194; in the Aran Islands the juice has been drunk for fevers195and insome unspecified parts the plant is said to have shared that northern Britishpopularity for gout.196Cavan is alone idiosyncratic in having yielded recordsas a jaundice cure and as an application to cuts.197That tansy is predomi-nantly a herb of Ulster may be evidence for its having been introduced pri-marily from Scotland.Seriphidium maritimum (Linnaeus) PoljakovArtemisia maritima Linnaeussea wormwoodEurope, south-western and central AsiaThough Seriphidium maritimum has properties similar to the two Artemisiaspecies (of which more below), its effects were found to be weaker and so ledto its recommendation by village doctresses in preference to its inland coun-terpart for ridding children of worms.198Apothecaries also gave it priority
Daisies 297over the commoner plant because its less bitter taste gave it more ‘consumerappeal’.199Once collected along the Sussex coast200on a commercial scale,the name ‘savin’, by which some people knew it, suggests that, by borrowingthat from juniper, the ‘deleterious purposes too generally known’ for whichthat collecting was said to take place201may have been as an abortifacient atleast in part. In the south of Scotland, though, it was to treat fevers and con-sumption that the peasants apparently primarily favoured it: Lanarkshireand Galloway folk tales tell of its being recommended by mermaids,202as if tounderline that only the maritime plant would do. Another use, reported fromEssex, was to rub one’s forehead with a handful of it to cure a headache.203Artemisia vulgaris Linnaeusmugwort, muggonsnorthern temperate zoneA common component of the tundra vegetation that clothed the British Islesat the termination of the Ice Age, Artemisia vulgaris has lingered on in otherparts of northern Europe as a member of the natural vegetation of the driftlines at or above the level of high-water spring tides (like tansy). In Britainand Ireland, however, it appears in modern times to have been confinedexclusively to man-made habitats,especially dry waste ground, on which it iscommon throughout the lowlands. Like other nitrophiles, it may haveacquired this weed status even as early as Mesolithic times and is likely tohave been available for exploitation for several millennia at least. The medico-magical potency with which this visually unprepossessing plant has beencredited through much of Eurasia and the strikingly similar beliefs associatedwith it in different regions of that landmass indeed suggest that it may beone of the oldest herbs known to mankind.204Sacred to thunder gods, itspower to ward off evil influences was believed to be greatest on MidsummerEve, the time of year when light and heat were rated their most intense.In thatrole it has rivalled, and probably preceded, St John’s-wort and attained a par-ticularly exalted status in the Isle of Man, where the custom was revived c.1924 of wearing a sprig of it on Tynwald Day, when the island’s ancient par-liament is traditionally convened for an open-air proclamation of each year’snew laws.Why, though, did it attract such an extraordinarily widespread and tena-cious faith in its efficacy? It is only slightly aromatic and its flowers are incon-spicuous. It is, however, narcotic and was probably once a favourite divina-tory,a use which is known to have persisted into more recent times in East
298 Artemisia vulgarisPrussia. The practice of smoking the dried leaves as a substitute for tobacco,general among country lads in Berkshire till late in the nineteenth century(under the name ‘docko’205), may well be a relic of that, for unlike colt’s-footit appears to have had no medical justifications attached to it. As the plantshares with tansy and the wormwoods vermicidal properties, that it may havebeen used like them to purge the system of internal parasites is another pos-sibility. If so, however, those two rivals must have usurped such former pop-ularity as it may have enjoyed for that, for no mentions of such an applicationhave been found. (An eighteenth-century record from Moray of its use as apurge, boiled in whey,206does not indicate the purpose of the purging.) Andthough ‘mugwort’means midge-herb, it seems to have been rated much infe-rior to those others for keeping away insects, too—records of its serving thatfunction have been traced from Devon,207Sussex208and Berwickshire209alone.A further well-attested property of the plant is its ability to restore men-strual flow, ease delivery and cleanse the womb, for which functions it wasonce highly valued by midwives and nurses. Not for nothing is the genusnamed after the Greek goddess Artemis, the patron of maternity and child-birth, for since ancient times mugwort has been the female plant above allothers, the mater herbarum or herba matrum. It may indeed be on account ofthe similarity of its leaves that motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) acquired,through misidentification, a comparable degree of respect in the Isle of Manunder the name ‘she-vervain’. Though long valued in official medicine incases of difficult parturition, mugwort features in the folk records in this andallied connections much less than expected but has probably suffered, likeabortifacients in general, from a degree of reticence on the part of both col-lectors and informants. Only Northamptonshire,210the Highlands,211andEriskay in the Outer Hebrides212appear to have yielded information, the lasttwo in the guise of liath-lus, a Gaelic name identified213with Artemisia vul-garis. Tansy’s comparable role has already been referred to above.In common with tansy once again (and wormwood, too) mugwort hasalso enjoyed a reputation for easing colds, heavy coughs and especially con-sumption (Cornwall,214South Wales,215‘Scotland’,216Londonderry217) aswell as sciatica (Cumbria218). With wormwood it seems to have served as adigestive interchangeably (Berwickshire,219the Highlands220) and as adiuretic like the other two it was once eaten as a vegetable in Devon in orderto dissolve ‘the stone’.221Finally, it is said to have shared in Ireland worm-wood’s apparently rare use there as a treatment for epilepsy.222
Daisies 299Artemisia absinthium Linnaeuswormwoodtemperate Eurasia; introduced into North and South America,New ZealandIn contrast to mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), another favourite of Classicalmedicine, A. absinthium, is everywhere an obvious cottage garden herb thathas slipped out here and there into the wilds and in no part of the BritishArtemisia absinthium,wormwood (Fuchs1543, fig. 1)
300 Artemisia absinthiumIsles is it anything like so common.It can only have been introduced for pur-poses for which that long-standing counterpart had shown itself inadequate.Wormwood’s main use has been as a digestive and for curing stomachupsets. This is outstandingly true of Wales, where it has been found fulfillingthat function in every county—to an extent that it emerges as one of the mostwidely used of all contemporary herbal medicines in the rural parts of thatcountry.223It has also found favour for the same purpose in Essex,224Derby-shire,225Berwickshire226and Orkney227—a curious scatter of counties whichmay merely be the fragments of a distribution formerly more general.Only slightly less widespread has been wormwood’s popularity as aninsecticide (Wiltshire,228Sussex,229Suffolk,230parts of Wales231), which hasconsiderably outstripped its deployment against intestinal worms (northernWales,232Inverness-shire,233Orkney234). When taken internally, though, ithas been well recognised as having risks: too large a dose (more than a table-spoonful in the case of adults) causes vomiting and pain.235In ‘some parts ofrural England’ it has also served as a disinfectant: in one house with cases ofscarlet fever the floor of the bedroom was washed with a strong decoctionmade from the achenes.236The plant has also been valued almost as much as a tonic and purifier ofthe system (Essex,237Montgomeryshire,238Flintshire,239Cheshire,240Ork-ney241) and for rheumatic complaints (Essex,242Norfolk,243Pembroke-shire244). The exceptional strength of its following in Wales has found furtherreflection there in its use for colds in Pembrokeshire,245kidney trouble inMontgomeryshire246and—perhaps the same thing—colic (in combinationwith syrup of elderberries) in ‘South Wales’,247while as a narcotic it has servedas a cure for insomnia in Cardiganshire.248Finally, a decoction of the planthas been taken for diabetes in the Isle of Man.249The near-absence of Irish records for wormwood (and mugwort, too) ishard to explain. The sole ones traced are as a remedy for stomach pains inMayo250and as an insecticide251and a cure for epilepsy (by pouring the juiceinto the sufferer’s mouth) in unidentified parts of the country.252Achillea ptarmica LinnaeussneezewortEurope, south-western Asia, Siberia; introduced into North America,New ZealandDespite its English name, no folk records of the use of Achillea ptarmica forcolds have been discovered, though it allegedly promoted the flow of salivaand has been claimed effective therefore against toothache.253An infusion