Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of the American Southeast, an Herbalist's Guide

By Judson Carroll

So many plants grow wild in on our remarkably diverse region that it can be very hard to differentiate between what is a weed and a wildflower. Originally, I had intended to include both weeds and wildflowers in this volume, along with grasses. But, that would have resulted in a book more than 1,200 pages long! I finally decided to only include those plants officially designated as weeds (including a few grasses) by the regional universities.... Not that they are experts.

After all, what decides a weed? Some of the plants listed as weeds are native, and others non-native. Some are labeled “noxious”... as if that really means anything. Those so labeled are considered undesirable by the “experts.” Essentially, a weed is any herbaceous plant that grows without human assistance.... Or, put another way, it is any plant that is growing where someone doesn’t want it. If we plant a bed of lettuce and we find chickweed growing among our lettuces, chickweed would be considered a weed. If we grow chickweed to include in our salads, it is not a weed, regardless the name. If we grow a lawn of ornamental grass and find dandelions, they are considered weeds. If we grow dandelions for food and medicine, they are not.
Just as there are no truly native or invasive plants, as seeds have spread throughout the world, from place to place long before the first human foot touched the earth, there are no true weeds. Many of the plants you will read about in this book are not only quite useful medicinally, but were brought to North America by European immigrants (and very likely by Asian and, perhaps Polynesian immigrants long before) to be grown as food and medicine.

What is nice about “weeds” is that they often grow in poor soil and in conditions that cultivated vegetables and herbs could not survive. We do not have to till the soil, water or mulch these plants. They are just there every year. We have only to take the time to learn about them, identify them and harvest them. I believe firmly that God has provided these plants for our needs, and it is a very foolish man who will curse such gifts and douse them with dangerous chemicals. A pocket full of plantain leaves is worth far more than a manicured lawn. Our ancestors who gave us these “weeds” must surely dismay our ignorance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Judson Carroll
• Release date: May 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215607282

Judson Carroll

Judson CarrollI am a certified Master Herbalist and Permaculturist from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, USA. I began learning about herbs and their uses from the old Appalachian folks, especially the Hicks family of Beech Creek, when I was around 15.I host the Southern Appalachian Herbal Podcast: Southern Appalachian Herbs https://www.spreaker.com/show/southern-appalachian-herbsI teach free, online herbal medicine classes: Herbal Medicine 101 https://rumble.com/c/c-618325I also write a weekly article on herbs and their properties: https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/151My passion is being outside, enjoying the woods, the water and the garden. My mission is to revive the tradition of “folk medicine” in America, so families can care for their own ailments at home, using the herbs God gave us for that purpose. I am a moderator and contributor for The Grow Network and you can communicate with me there https://thegrownetwork.com/My email address is [e-mail]

Book preview

Medicinal Weeds and Grasses of The American Southeast

An Herbalist's Guide

By

Judson Carroll

Disclaimer:

The information in this book is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. I am not a health practitioner and am not offering advice. No content in this book has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Following any information in this book is at your own risk.

Do your own thorough research before following any herbal advice. Be aware of interactions (drug or herbal), allergy, sensitivity or underlying conditions before proceeding with following any health information.

By continuing to read this book you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices and not to hold me responsible for your own actions.

Copyright 2023

All rights reserved. This book may not be shared or reproduced without written permission by the author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Acalypha

Achillea filipendulina

Aegopodium podagraria

Agrostemma githago

Alliums

Amaranth

Ambrosia artemisiifolia

Aphanes arvensis

Arctium lappa

Artemisia vulgaris

Baccharis halimifolia

Brassica nigra

Calystegia sepium

Capsella bursa-pastoris

Cardamine

Centaurea solstitialis

Cerastium glomeratum

Chelidonium majus

Chenopodium album

Cichorium intybus

Cichorium intybus

Cirsium

Conium maculatum

Cynodon dactylon

Cyperus esculentus

Dactylis glomerata

Daucus carota

Digitaria sanguinalis

Dioscorea polystachya

Eclipta prostrata

Eleusine indica

Elodea densa

Emilia

Epilobium

Equisetum

Erechtites hieraciifolius

Erigeron bonariensis

Erysimum cheiranthoides

Eupatorium capillifolium

Euphorbia

Galinsoga quadriradiata

Galium aparine

Geranium carolinianum

Glechoma hederacea

Gnaphalium

Hedera helix

Heracleum mantegazzianum

Hydrilla verticillata

Hydrocotyle umbellata

Imperata cylindrica

Juncus tenuis

Kummerowia striata

Lactuca

Lamium

Lonicera

Ludwigia palustris

Lythrum salicaria

Malva neglecta

Medicago

Mollugo verticillata

Morus alba

Myosotis macrosperma

Myriophyllum spicatum

Nymphoides

Oxalis

Persicaria or Polygonum

Phytolacca americana

Pilosella officinarum

Plantago – Plantain

Portulaca oleracea

Potentilla canadensis

Prunella vulgaris

Ranunculus

Raphanus raphanistrum

Reynoutria japonica

Rorippa

Salix – Willow or Osier

Sanguisorba minor

Scleranthus annuus

Securigera varia

Senecio vulgaris

Senna obtusifolia

Setaria

Sinapis arvensis

Smilax

Solanum

Sorghum halepense

Stachys floridana

Stellaria media

Tanacetum vulgare

Taraxacum officinale

Thlaspi arvense

Trifolium

Verbascum thapsus

Verbena bonariensis

Veronica

Viola

Wisteria sinensis

Xanthium strumarium

Youngia japonica

Afterward

Introduction

So many plants grow wild in on our remarkably diverse region that it can be very hard to differentiate between what is a weed and a wildflower. Originally, I had intended to include both weeds and wildflowers in this volume, along with grasses. But, that would have resulted in a book more than 1,200 pages long! I finally decided to only include those plants officially designated as weeds (including a few grasses) by the regional universities…. Not that they are experts.

After all, what decides a weed? Some of the plants listed as weeds are native, and others non-native. Some are labeled noxious… as if that really means anything. Those so labeled are considered undesirable by the experts. Essentially, a weed is any herbaceous plant that grows without human assistance…. Or, put another way, it is any plant that is growing where someone doesn’t want it. If we plant a bed of lettuce and we find chickweed growing among our lettuces, chickweed would be considered a weed. If we grow chickweed to include in our salads, it is not a weed, regardless the name. If we grow a lawn of ornamental grass and find dandelions, they are considered weeds. If we grow dandelions for food and medicine, they are not.

Just as there are no truly native or invasive plants, as seeds have spread throughout the world, from place to place long before the first human foot touched the earth, there are no true weeds. Many of the plants you will read about in this book are not only quite useful medicinally, but were brought to North America by European immigrants (and very likely by Asian and, perhaps Polynesian immigrants long before) to be grown as food and medicine.

What is nice about weeds is that they often grow in poor soil and in conditions that cultivated vegetables and herbs could not survive. We do not have to till the soil, water or mulch these plants. They are just there every year. We have only to take the time to learn about them, identify them and harvest them. I believe firmly that God has provided these plants for our needs, and it is a very foolish man who will curse such gifts and douse them with dangerous chemicals. A pocket full of plantain leaves is worth far more than a manicured lawn. Our ancestors who gave us these weeds must surely dismay our ignorance.

Acalypha virginica- Virginia Copperleaf, Virginia Threeseed Mercury

This weed, as the name suggests, is not invasive. It is native to the region. Very little documented use of Acalypha virginica is available. But, Resources of The southern Fields and Forests states:

Said by Dr. Atkins, of Coosaw- hatchie, to be expectorant and diuretic; he has employed it successfully in cases of humid asthma, ascites and anasarca.

Acalypha virginica should be used with care as is is considered to be slightly toxic.

Achillea filipendulina - Fernleaf Yarrow, Soldiers Woundwort

Achillea is the Yarrow family. Yarrow is one of the most storied herbs in history. Perhaps the first legend most herbalists hear about Yarrow is that it was used by Achillies to treat soldiers wounded in battle. This comes from the Iliad of Homer and is particularly interesting because recent scholarship has shown that Homer may have been a military physician, as well as a poet. If so, that would lend a great deal of credibility to the use of Yarrow as being a soldier’s herb from very ancient, pre-literate times. Regardless, the Latin name of Yarrow came to be Achillea millefolium, having been named for Achillies and identified by its million segmented, fringe-like leaves.

Dioscorides wrote of Yarrow as Stratiotes millefolius:

Stratiotes millefolius is a small little shrub twenty centimetres long (or more) with leaves similar to the feathers of a young bird, and the abnormal growths of the leaves are very short and jagged. The leaves are (most chiefly) similar in their shortness and roughness to wild cumin yet even shorter; and the tuft is thicker than this and fuller, for it has small shoots on the top on which are the tufts in the shape of dill; the flowers are small and white. It grows in somewhat rough fields and especially around the ways. This herb is excellent for an excessive discharge of blood, old and new ulcers, and for fistulas [ulcers].

Yarrow being so well known and widely used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, it found much use in the Monastic Medicine of the Middle ages and later in German Folk Medicine: Saint Hildegard recommended yarrow applied to the eyelids for vision darkened by tears. Yarrow is universally used by herbalists for wounds and bleeding. Saint Hildegard used it similarly and recognized its antiseptic properties for use against infected wounds. She recommended it be used externally for external wounds and internally for internal bleeding. She also recommended it taken, infused in wine for fevers. Yarrow's use for staunching blood has been known since the time of the ancient Greeks, who told of it in the legend of Achilles as battlefield medicine. Saint Hildegard's recommendation against fever shows her advanced knowledge of herbal medicine. She also recommended Yarrow, combined with Dill, to stop nose bleeds.

Fr. Kneipp combined Yarrow with Saint John’s Wort and Linden for coughs and congestion. His protege, Brother Aloysius recommended Yarrow for weakness and mucus in the digestive organs, for lung complaints, internal cramps, heavy bleeding, piles, irregular menstruation, nervous complaints, insomnia, the consequences of self abuse, back pain caused by piles, internal and external ulcers, intestinal complaints, stomach cramp, stomachache, leukorrhea, lung complaints, bleeding lungs, chills, rheumatism, fresh sores, scrofulous, sores, fistulas.

Maria Treben wrote:

For intestinal cancer - it was a young mother of five and the doctor had given her only a few more days - I recommended compresses applied to the area of the intestines, at the same time calamus roots, which were steeped in cold water overnight one level teaspoon per cup of water;

One sip before and after each meal, and a tea made from equal proportions of stinging nettle, calendula and yarrow. At least two liters of this tea have to be sipped throughout the day. Today this woman is so much better that there is hope of a complete recovery.

A woman from Heilbronn, West Germany wrote: bout 10 months ago, my 41 year old nephew who lives in Sacramento CA wrote in his letter that he suffers from bleeding at the colon daily and the medical diagnosis is without a doubt cancer of the colon A side opening would be necessary. I sent him your book held through God's pharmacy Swedish bitters, calamus roots, calendula, Yarrow and stinging nettle. He followed the instructions in your book. Today my nephew was able to work again. After taking the mention herbs for four days the bleeding stopped. Tiredness and loss of weight were arrested slowly.

Sophie Hodorowicz Knab tells us of its use in Polish herbalism:

In the Middle Ages, Yarrow was grown in Poland in the garden monasteries of the Domincans and Benedictines. Marcin of Urzedow suggests poultices of Yarrow for inflamed and pus-filled wounds. Syreniusz suggested its use for internal bleeding, diarrhea and pain in the intestines. He suggested that the herb is good boiled in wine and taken for colic and biting in the stomach.. Mashed and applied to the body it will stop nose bleeds and decrease tooth pain if the root is chewed.

Country women rubbed the fresh herb in their hands and applied it to bleeding areas to stop the flow of blood. The juice squeezed from the fresh leaves was applied to open sores and fresh wounds. Boiled in white wine it was considered a medication for vaginal discharge. A salve was made for wounds, ulcers and fistulas. The powdered dry leaf was smoked like tobacco to cure headaches. In the 18th century, extracts and oils made from Yarrow were sold in apothecary shops across Poland.

…It is also one of the herbs blessed on August 15th on the Feast of Our Lady of the Herbs (the Assumption).

Igor Vilevich Zevin tells us that in Russia, Yarrow was called, herb of a thousand leaves. Old herbals document its use as far back as the fourteenth century, although it was probably used before that time. During the 18th and 19th centuries Russian doctors were very familiar with the medicinal properties of Yarrow and used it to treat hemorrhage and relieve symptoms of dysentery.

Turning to the British tradition, Gerard states:

Yarrow is called of the Latin herbarists Millefolium: it is Dioscorides his Achilleos: in Latin, Achillea, and Achillea sideritis; which thing he may very plainly see that will compare with that description which Dioscorides hath set down: this was found out, saith Pliny in his 25th book, chap. 5, by Achilles, Chiron's disciple, which for that cause is named Achilleios: of others, Sideritis: among us, Millefolium: yet be there other Sideritides and also another Panaces heracleion whereof we will treat in another place: Apuleius setteth down divers names hereof, some of which are also found among the bastard names in Dioscorides: in Latin it is called Militaris, Supercilium veneris, Acrum, or Acorum sylvaticum: of the Frenchmen, Millefeuille: in High Dutch, Garben, Scharffgras: in Low Dutch, Geruwe: in Italian, Millefoglio: in Spanish, Milhoyas yerva: in English, Yarrow, Nosebleed, Common Yarrow, Red Yarrow, and Milfoil.

The Temperature.

Yarrow, as Galen saith, is not unlike in temperature to the Sideritides, or Ironworts, that is to say, cleansing, and meanly cold, but it most of all bindeth.

The Virtues.

A. The leaves of Yarrow do close up wounds, and keep them from inflammation, or fiery swelling: it stancheth blood in any part of the body, and it is likewise put into baths for women to sit in: it stoppeth the lask, and being drunk it helpeth the bloody flux.

B. Most men say that the leaves chewed, and especially green, are a remedy for the toothache.

C. The leaves being put into the nose, do cause it to bleed, and ease the pain of the megrim.

D. It cureth the inward excorations of the yard of a man, coming by reason of pollutions or extreme flowing of the seed, although the issue do cause inflammation and swelling of those secret parts, and though the spermatic matter do come down in great quantity, if the juice be injected with a syringe, or the decoction. This hath been proved by a certain friend of mine, sometime a Fellow of Kings College in Cambridge, who lightly bruised the leaves of common Yarrow, with hog's grease, and applied it warm unto the privy parts, and thereby did divers times help himself, and others of his fellows, when he was a student and a single man living in Cambridge.

E. One dram in powder of the herb given in wine, presently taketh away the pains of the colic.

Culpepper said of Yarrow:

It is under the influence of Venus. As a medicine it is drying and binding. A decoction of it boiled with white wine, is good to stop the running of the reins in men, and whites in women; restrains violent bleedings, and is excellent for the piles. A strong tea in this case should be made of the leaves, and drank plentifully; and equal parts of it, and of toad flax, should be made into a poultice with pomatum, and applied outwardly. This induces sleep, eases the pain, and lessens the bleeding. An ointment of the leaves cures wounds, and is good for inflammations, ulcers, fistulas, and all such runnings as abound with moisture.

Some writers of credit take the pains to inform us what plants cattle will not eat; they judge of this by looking at what are left in grounds, where they feed; and all such they direct to be rooted up. We have in this an instance, that more care is needful than men commonly take to shew what is and what is not valuable. Yarrow is a plant left standing always in fed pasture; for cattle will not eat its dry stalk, nor have the leaves any great virtue after this rises; but Yarrow still is useful. It should be sown on barren grass ground, and while the leaves are tender, the cows and horses will eat it heartily. Nothing is more welcome for them, and it doubles the natural produce. On cutting down the stalks as they rise, it keeps the leaf fresh and they will eat it as it grows.

Mrs. Grieve tells us that the folk history of Yarrow had negative connotations among some cultures:

Its specific name, millefolium, is derived from the many segments of its foliage, hence also its popular name, Milfoil and Thousand Weed. Another popular name for it is Nosebleed, from its property of stanching bleeding of the nose, though another reason given for this name is that the leaf, being rolled up and applied to the nostrils, causes a bleeding from the nose, more or less copious, which will thus afford relief to headache. Parkinson tells us that 'if it be put into the nose, assuredly it will stay the bleeding of it' - so it seems to act either way.

It was one of the herbs dedicated to the Evil One, in earlier days, being sometimes known as Devil's Nettle, Devil's Plaything, Bad Man's Plaything, and was used for divination in spells.

Yarrow, in the eastern counties, is termed Yarroway, and there is a curious mode of divination with its serrated leaf, with which the inside of the nose is tickled while the following lines are spoken. If the operation causes the nose to bleed, it is a certain omen of success:

'Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow,

If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.'

An ounce of Yarrow sewed up in flannel and placed under the pillow before going to bed, having repeated the following words, brought a vision of the future husband or wife:

'Thou pretty herb of Venus' tree,

Thy true name it is Yarrow;

Now who my bosom friend must be,

Pray tell thou me to-morrow.'

---(Halliwell's Popular Rhymes, etc.)

It has been employed as snuff, and is also called Old Man's Pepper, on account of the pungency of its foliage. Both flowers and leaves have a bitterish, astringent, pungent taste.

In the seventeenth century it was an ingredient of salads.

Parts Used---The whole plant, stems, leaves and flowers, collected in the wild state, in August, when in flower.

Constituents---A dark green, volatile oil, a peculiar principle, achillein, and achilleic acid, which is said to be identical with aconitic acid, also resin, tannin, gum and earthy ash, consisting of nitrates, phosphates and chlorides of potash and lime.

Medicinal Action and Uses---Diaphoretic, astringent, tonic, stimulant and mild aromatic.

Yarrow Tea is a good remedy for severe colds, being most useful in the commencement of fevers, and in cases of obstructed perspiration. The infusion is made with 1 OZ. of dried herb to 1 pint of boiling water, drunk warm, in wineglassful doses. It may be sweetened with sugar, honey or treacle, adding a little Cayenne Pepper, and to each dose a teaspoonful of Composition Essence. It opens the pores freely and purifies the blood, and is recommended in the early stages of children's colds, and in measles and other eruptive diseases.

A decoction of the whole plant is employed for bleeding piles, and is good for kidney disorders. It has the reputation also of being a preventative of baldness, if the head be washed with it.

Preparations---Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. An ointment made by the Highlanders of Scotland of the fresh herb is good for piles, and is also considered good against the scab in sheep.

An essential oil has been extracted from the flowers, but is not now used.

Linnaeus recommended the bruised herb, fresh, as an excellent vulnerary and styptic. It is employed in Norway for the cure of rheumatism, and the fresh leaves chewed are said to cure toothache.

In Sweden it is called 'Field Hop' and has been used in the manufacture of beer. Linnaeus considered beer thus brewed more intoxicating than when hops were used.

John K’Eogh tells us that Yarrow was used in Ireland for a number of complaints:

It has a very dry astringent nature. Drinking a decoction stops dysentery, and excessive menstrual and other flows. If bruised and applied to wounds, it stops bleeding and prevents inflammations and swelling. A dram of it pulverized and taken in a glass of white wine is a perfect remedy for the colic. Nothing is more effectual against the piles (hemorrhoids) either taken inwardly or applied outwardly. If applied to the pit of the stomach in a plaster with grated nutmeg, it is beneficial for fevers.

Clover Leaf Farms Herbal Encyclopedia states that Yarrow had more mystical use in pre-Christian Ireland and much use among tribes in the Americas:

Druids used it to divine seasonal changes, and the Chinese used it to foretell the future.

The Aztecs used the plant in poultices for sores. They made teas to cure coughs, diarrhea, and other digestive problems. It was also one of the herbs used to increase contractions during childbirth; and, when taken in large doses, it is used as a purge after overeating.

The Aztec name (tlalquequetzal) includes the suffix for the earth (tla) and for plumes (quetzal"), referring to its feathery leaves.

Yarrow was used by many tribes, including the Cheyenne, Menominee, Lakota, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre, and Okanagan to treat catarrh, coughs, colds, and fever effectively. At times, the use of an herb may seem contradictory, and such is the case with yarrow. The Iroquois drank a tea made from the root to treat diarrhea, while the Okanagan combined the root with other herbs to treat constipation. Many tribes have used yarrow topically in compresses to treat bleeding, as washes for such skin irritations as burns, eczema, hives, and poison ivy, as well as for poultices to treat wounds.

The Cheyenne called the plant i ha i se e yo meaning cough medicine. The Osage name is wetsaoindse egon or rattlesnake’s tail-like. The Lakota called it cedar weed (xante canxlogan) and wound medicine (taopi pexuta), while the Winnebago’s name referred to the appearance of the leaf — hank-sintsh or woodchuck’s tail.

The Cheyenne used the plant to stimulate sweating, to break a fever, and to alleviate cold symptoms. The Blackfeet made a tea and used it as a diuretic or rubbed on afflicted parts of the skin. The Lakotas used it to treat wounds, while the Crows chewed and held it in the mouth to cure a toothache. The Crows also made poultices from the crushed leaves for burns, boils, or open sores. They added goose fat to make a salve. The Assiniboins and Gros Ventres used a tea to treat colds and stomach complaints while poultices were applied to wounds. The Winnebagos placed a wad of leaves in the ear to cure earaches.

The use of Yarrow as a soldier’s herb continued well through the American Revolution and the Civil War. It was even carried by soldiers in World War I. King’s Medical Dispensatory of 1898 tells us its official use in medicine:

Chemical Composition.—Yarrow contains a reddish-brown, active, bitter principle called achillein (C20H38N2O15), discovered by Zanon, in 1846 (Liebig's Annalen), and shown by Von Planta (1870) to be alkaloidal and identical with the achilleine of Achillea moschata. Zanon also found an acid which he named achilleic acid, and which was subsequently (1857) shown by Hlasiwetz to be aconitic acid. A small portion of a volatile oil, dark-green in color, may be obtained from yarrow by distillation with water. Milfoil also contains potassium and calcium salts, resin, gum, and tannin.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Yarrow possesses slightly astringent properties, and is tonic, alterative and diuretic, in infusion. Its use in chronic diseases of the urinary apparatus, is especially recommended by Prof. J. M. Scudder. It exerts a tonic influence upon the venous system, as well as upon mucous membranes. It has been efficacious in sore throat, hemoptysis, hematuria and other forms of hemorrhage where the bleeding is small in amount, incontinence of urine, diabetes, hemorrhoids with bloody or mucoid discharges, and dysentery; also in amenorrhoea, flatulency and spasmodic diseases, and in the form of injection in leucorrhoea with relaxed vaginal walls. Prof. T. V. Morrow made much use of an infusion of this herb in dysentery. Given in half-drachm doses of the saturated tincture, or 20-drop doses of specific achillea, it will be found one of our best agents for the relief of menorrhagia.

The active principle, Achillein, has been employed in France and other portions of Southern Europe, as a substitute for quinine in the treatment of intermittent fevers. It has also been employed by French physicians to restore arrested lochial discharges.

Ɣ Of infusion (℥i to Aqua Oj), 1 to 2 fluid ounces; specific achillea, 5 to 30 drops; volatile oil, 5 to 20 drops. All preparations of achillea are rendered more pleasant to the taste by the addition of a few drops of oil of anise.

Specific Indications and Uses.—To relieve urinary irritation, strangury, urinary suppression; relieves irritation in incipient Bright's disease, capillary relaxation, leucorrhoea with relaxed and irritated vaginal walls, hematuria, gastric and intestinal atony, atonic amenorrhoea, menorrhagia.

Although no longer officially used in modern, allopathic medicine, Yarrow is still considered essential in herbal apothecaries. Plants for A Future lists its modern use:

Yarrow has a high reputation and is widely employed in herbal medicine, administered both internally and externally. It is used in the treatment of a very wide range of disorders but is particularly valuable for treating wounds, stopping the flow of blood, treating colds, fevers, kidney diseases, menstrual pain etc. The whole plant is used, both fresh and dried, and is best harvested when in flower. Some caution should be exercised in the use of this herb since large or frequent doses taken over a long period may be potentially harmful, causing allergic rashes and making the skin more sensitive to sunlight. The herb combines well with Sambucus nigra flowers (Elder) and Mentha x piperita vulgaris (Peppermint) for treating colds and influenza. The herb is antiseptic, antispasmodic, mildly aromatic, astringent, carminative, cholagogue, diaphoretic, digestive, emmenagogue, odontalgic, stimulant, bitter tonic, vasodilator and vulnerary. It also contains the anti-inflammatory agent azulene, though the content of this varies even between plants in the same habitat. The herb is harvested in the summer when in flower and can be dried for later use. The fresh leaf can be applied direct to an aching tooth in order to relieve the pain.

Among the most amazing attributes of Yarrow to me, though, is the sheer toughness and resilience of the plant. While in ideal conditions, Yarrow may grow up to 3 feet tall, there is a patch in my yard in an area I mowed for several years. At first, I regretted mowing it because I assumed it would kill the useful herb. But, the yarrow adapted. It simply grew shorter and sideways! The more I cut it, the more it grew. The soldier’s herb simply soldiered on.along with the plantain, dandelion, bugle and self-fheal… all herbs that are useful for wounds. It was somewhat of a doctrine of signatures revelation - that God shows us the useful plants by their characteristics.

Aegopodium podagraria - Bishop's goutweed, Bishops' Weed, Bishopweed, Gout Weed, Ground Elder, Herb Gerard, Snow on the mountain

This weed has documented medicinal use dating back thousands of years, seemingly being interchangeable with Ammi or common Bishop’s Weed. Dioscorides wrote:

Ammi is a well-known little seed, smaller than cumin, and similar to origanum in the taste. Choose seed that is pure and not branny. This is warming, acrid and drying. It is good (taken in a drink with wine) for griping, difficult painful urination, and those bitten by venomous creatures. It induces the menstrual flow. It is mixed with corrosive medicines made of dried beetles to resist the difficult painful urination that follows. Applied with honey it takes away bruises around the eyes. Taken either as a drink or smeared on it changes the [skin] to a paler colour; and soaked with raisins or rosin it cleans the vulva. The Romans call it ammium Alexandrinum. It is also called Aethiopicum, or regium cuminum, but some have said that the Ethiopian cumin has one nature and the ammi another.

Gerard tells us:

A. It availeth against gripings of the belly, in making of urine, against the bitings of serpents taken in wine, and also it bringeth down the flowers: being applied with honey it taketh away black and blue spots which come of stripes: the seed of Sison doth also the like, for it is hot and dry, and that in the third degree; likewise of thin parts, provoking urine, arid bringing down the desired sickness.

B. The seed of Ameos is good to be drunken in wine against the biting of all manner of beasts, and hath power against all manner of poison & pestilent fevers, or the plague, and is used in the correcting of Cantharides, whereby those flies are made medicinable to be applied to the body without danger.

C. Ameos brayed and mingled with honey scattereth congealed blood, and putteth away black and blue marks which come by stripes or falls, if it be applied thereto in manner of a plaster.

Culpepper States:

Government and virtues. It is hot and dry in the third degree, of a bitter taste, and somewhat sharp withal; it provokes lust to purpose; I suppose Venus owns it. It digesteth humours, provoketh urine and women's courses, dissolveth wind, and being taken in wine it easeth pain and griping in the bowels, and is good against the biting of serpents; it is used to good effect in those medicines which are given to hinder the poisonous operation of Cantharides upon the passage of the urine; being mixed with honey and applied to black and blue marks coming of blows or bruises, it takes them away; and being drank or outwardly applied, it abateth a high colour, and makes it pale; and the fumes thereof taken with rosin or raisins, cleanseth the mother.

John K’eogh tells us of the Irish tradition:

The seed is very good against colic pains; it provokes urine and menstruation, as well as flatulence. Mixed with honey, it disperses congealed blood.

Plants for A Future, differentiates between Ground Elder and Bishop’s Weed:

Medicinal use of Ground Elder: Ground Elder has a long history of medicinal use and was cultivated as a food crop and medicinal herb in the Middle Ages. The plant was used mainly as a food that could counteract gout, one of the effects of the rich foods eaten by monks, bishops etc at this time. The plant is little used in modern herbalism. All parts of the plant are antirheumatic, diuretic, sedative and vulnerary. An infusion is used in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and disorders of the bladder and intestines. Externally, it is used as a poultice on burns, stings, wounds, painful joints etc. The plant is harvested when it is in flower in late spring to mid-summer and can be used fresh or be dried for later use. A homeopathic remedy is made from the flowering plant. It is used in the treatment of arthritis and rheumatism.

Medicinal use of Bishop's Weed: The seed is contraceptive, diuretic and tonic. An infusion is used to calm the digestive system, whilst it is also used in the treatment of asthma and angina. A decoction of the ground-up seed, eaten after intercourse, appears able to prevent implantation of the fertilized ovum in the uterus. This decoction is also used as a gargle in the treatment of toothache. The seed contains furanocoumarins (including bergapten), which stimulate pigment production in skin that is exposed to bright sunlight. The plant is widely cultivated in India for these furanocoumarins which are used in the treatment of vitiligo (piebald skin) and psoriasis.

The Physicians Desk Reference for Herbal Medicine states:

Unproven uses: The herb is used internally as an infusion for gout and rheumatic diseases. It is used externally in macerations for poultices and baths for hemorrhoids, gout and rheumatic diseases, as well as for kidney and bladder disorders and intestinal disorders.

No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages.

Agrostemma githago - Cockle, Corn Cockle

Dioscorides wrote of Corn Cockle as Aira:

Aira (which grows among wheat) ground up has the power to remove the edges from nomae [grazer disease, eats away muscle, tissue and bones], rotten ulcers, and gangrene, applied as a poultice with radishes and salt. With natural sulphur and vinegar it cures wild lichenae [skin disease] and leprosy. Boiled in wine with pigeons’ dung and flaxseed it dissolves scrofulous tumours [glandular swelling, goitres], and breaks open swellings that are hard to ripen. Boiled with honey and water and applied as a poultice it is good for those with sciatica. The smoke inhaled with polenta, myrrh, saffron, or frankincense helps conception. The Romans call it lolium, and it is also called thyaron.

Mrs. Grieve tells us:

'An annual herb of the Pink family; one of the Campions. The tall, slender stem, 2 to 4 feet high, has a dense coat of white hairs. The narrow, lance-shaped leaves, 4 to 5 inches in length, are produced in pairs and their stalkless bases meet around the stem. The large solitary flowers have very long stalks which issue from the axils of the leaves. They are 1 1/2 and 2 inches broad, with purple petals which have pale streaks (honey guides), showing the way to the mouth of the tube. There are no scales round the mouth. But the striking feature of the flower which distinguishes it from the Campions is the woolly calyx with its five strong ridges and five long green teeth that far exceed the length of the petals; in the open flower they take their place between the petals, and seem to serve as preliminary alighting perches for the butterflies and moths by which the flowers are pollinated. Nectar is secreted at the bottom of the tube, whose depth makes the flower unsuitable for bees. The flower is at first male, the anthers shedding their pollen before the stigmas are mature; they are so disposed at the mouth of the tube that the nectar-seekers push their faces among them and pick up pollen. On visiting a flower that is a day or two older and has become female, the stigmas occupying the mouth are in the way to receive it by a similar process. Sometimes, smaller flowers are produced in addition, which are entirely female, for the stamens are not developed. The flowers bloom from June to August, and are succeeded by a large, oval capsule, opening by five teeth, and containing about 2 dozen large black seeds. The seeds contain an irritant poison, and sometimes cause trouble through being eaten by domestic animals, and by getting into milling corn and thence into the family loaf.' - (Trees and Flowers of the Countryside.)

Corn Cockle is not used in alopathic medicine to-day, but according to Hill, if used long enough, it was considered a cure for dropsy and jaundice.

In homoeopathy a trituration of the seeds has been found useful in paralysis and gastritis.

Sophie Hodorowicz Knabb tells us that in Poland, Conr Cockle was used to rid the body of freckles.

Plants for a Future states:

Medicinal use of Corncockle: The seed is diuretic, expectorant and vermifuge. Minute amounts are used medicinally. It has a folk history of use in the treatment of cancer, warts etc. The plant is not used in allopathic medicine, but it has been found efficacious in the treatment of dropsy and jaundice if used for long enough. Some caution is advised, see notes on toxicity. A homeopathic remedy has been made from the seeds. It has been found useful in the treatment of paralysis and gastritis.

Although poisonous, saponins are poorly absorbed by the human body and so most pass through without harm. Saponins are quite bitter and can be found in many common foods such as some beans. They can be removed by carefully leaching the seed or flour in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of food that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish

The Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants tells us:

Minute amounts of the powdered seeds once taken in honey as a diuretic, expectorant, vermifuge (dewormer), used for jaundice, dropsy, gastritis. European folk use for cancers, warts, hard swelling int the uterus.

Warning: Seeds toxic, especially when broken; dangerous saponins are concentrated in the seed embryo.

The Physicians Desk Reference for Herbal Medicine states:

Effects: The drug exhibits an antimycotic effect. Cornflower seeds are toxic in higher dosages.

Unproven uses: Folk medicine use includes gastritis, coughs, skin impurities, edema and worm purging.

Alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, ramps, etc) - Allium canadense (Meadow Garlic, Wild Garlic, Wild Onion), Allium vineale (Crow Garlic, Field Garlic, Onion Grass, Stag's Garlic, Wild Garlic, Wild Onion)

Whether wild or cultivated, called weeds, vegetables or herbs, the Allium family ranks as among the most useful of medicinal herbs and the most delicious of all plants. Alliums are the foundation of many folk traditions of herbal medicine throughout the world and have proven use in modern medicine. A general rule of thumb among foragers is that, If it looks like an onion (garlic, etc) and smells like an onion, it is an allium. That is important to remember, because there are a few wild plants that look like wild onions, but do not smell like onions and can be poisonous.

Dioscorides wrote of several alliums:

Leek

The headed prasum (which the Latins call porrum) is inflative, has bad juice, causes troublesome dreams, is uretic and good for the stomach, reduces the intensity of symptoms, causes dullness of sight, expels the menstrual flow, and hurts ulcerated bladders and kidneys. Boiled with barley water (or otherwise eaten) it brings out things that close up the chest. The blades boiled in sea water and vinegar are excellent in a bath for suffocation and hardness of the womb. It grows sweet and becomes less flatulent if it is boiled in two [separate] waters and steeped in [fresh] cold water. The seed is sharper and somewhat astringent. As a result, the juice mixed with vinegar and manna [exudation of certain

trees] or frankincense, stops the blood (especially that which comes from the nostrils), discourages venereal diseases, and is good used as linctus [syrup] with honey for all disorders in the chest. Eaten (it is good) against consumption [wasting disease]. It cleans the breath canals [lungs]. Eaten frequently it dulls the sight and is worthless for the stomach. Taken as a drink with honey and water the juice is a remedy for those bitten by venomous creatures, and the prasum itself also does good if applied. The juice dropped in the ears with vinegar, frankincense, and milk or rosaceum helps earache and noises in the ears. The leaves applied with rhoe obsoniorum [any food which is not bread] take away varos [papules of smallpox], and heals pustules which appear at night. Applied with salt it removes the edges on the crusts of ulcers. Two teaspoonfuls of the seeds (taken in a drink with the same amount of myrtle berries) stop the throwing-up of old blood.

Wild Leek

Ampeloprasum is worse for the stomach than leeks but is warmer and more uretic, expelling the menstrual flow. It is good if those bitten by poisonous beasts eat it.

Onion

The long onion is sharper than the round, the red more than the white, the dry more than the green, the raw more than the roasted or that kept in salt. All of them have a biting quality and are inflative, inviting appetite. They reduce the intensity of symptoms, cause thirst, cause nauseousness and purging, are good for the bowels, open the passages for excrement, and are good for haemorrhoids. First peeled and put into oil, they are given as a suppository. The juice rubbed on with honey helps dull sight, argema [small white ulcer on the cornea], small clouds in the eye, and those who are beginning to be troubled with liquids in the eyes, as well as angina [heart pains]. It both induces and expels the menstrual flow, and inhaled it purges the head by the nostrils. It is a poultice with salt, rue and honey forthose bitten by dogs. Thoroughly rubbed on in the sun with vinegar it cures vitiligines [form of leprosy], and with an equal amount of spodium [calcined powder] it lessens scabby inflammations of the eyes. With salt it represses varos [smallpox pustules]. With poultry grease it is good for shoe-chafing, excessive discharges of the intestines, hardness of hearing, noise in the ears, and purulent ears.

It is also good for dripping water in the ears, and the loss of hair (rubbed on) as it brings out the hair sooner than alcyonium. Onion (much eaten) causes headaches, but boiled it becomes more diuretic. If much is eaten in times of sickness it makes men lethargic. Boiled and applied as a plaster with raisins of the sun or figs it ripens and breaks swelling sores. It is also called polyides, the Magi call it calabotis, and the Latins, caepa

Garlic

Some garlic is cultivated and grows in gardens, and that in Egypt has only one head like the leek — sweet, inclining to a purple colour. Elsewhere it is compacted of many white cloves that the Greeks call aglithai. There is another wild kind called ophioscorodon (that is, serpent’s garlic). It has a sharp, warming, biting quality. It expels flatulence, disturbs the belly, dries the stomach, causes thirst and puffing up, breeds boils on the outside of the body, and dulls vision. Ophioscorodon does the same things when eaten, as well as elaphoscorodon (as we should say, hart’s garlic). Eaten, it draws out broadworms and draws away urine. It is good like nothing else for those bitten by vipers or with haemorrhous [women’s excessive loss of blood] (with wine taken shortly afterwards), or else pounded into small pieces in wine and taken as a drink. It is applied as a poultice that is effective for the same purposes, as well as applied to anyone bitten by a mad dog. Eaten, it is good against change of waters (to clear the throat, and the same way to relieve roughness of the throat). It clears the arteries, and eaten either raw or boiled lessens old coughs. Taken as a drink with a decoction of origanum it kills lice and nits. Burnt and mixed with honey it cures bruised eyes. It is rubbed on for loss of hair but for this it must be used with ointment of nard. With salt and oil it heals erupted pimples. With honey it takes away vitiligines [form of leprosy], lichenes [skin disease], freckles, running ulcers on the head, dandruff, and psoriasis. Boiled with taeda [pitch pine] and frankincense and kept in the mouth it lessens toothache. It is a poultice with fig leaves and cumin for those bitten by the mygale [shrew mouse]. A decoction of the leaves is a hip bath to bring down the menstrual flow and afterbirth. It is also inhaled as smoke for the same purpose. The stamping that is made of it with black olives called myrton [garlic and olives] induces the movement of urine, opens the mouths of veins, and is good for dropsy. It is also called geboscum, some call it elaphoboscum, and the Latins, allium.

Spanish Garlic or Shallot

Scordoprasum grows to the size of a leek, sharing the qualities of both garlic and leek (from which it has a mixed kind of strength), performing things that the garlic and the leek do, but with fewer efficacies. It is used as a vegetable, eaten boiled like leek and thus made to become sweet.

Wild Garlic or Chive

Moly has leaves similar to grass (but broader) on the ground; flowers similar to white violets, a milky colour, less in quantity than those of the violet. It has a white stalk of four feet, on the top of which stands something similar to garlic. The root is small, in the shape of a scallion. This is very good, pounded with flour of lolium and inserted as a pessary for openings of the womb. The herb moly (cut up by the root and carried around the body) is good against poisoning and bewitching. It is also called leucoion sylvestre

Gerard sums it up well:

There be, saith Theophrastus, divers sorts of Onions, which have their surnames of the places where they grow: some also lesser, others greater; some be round, and divers others long; but none wild, as Pliny writeth.

A. The Onions do bite, attenuate, or make thin, and cause dryness: being boiled they do lose their sharpeness, especially if the water be twice or thrice changed, and yet for all that they do not lose their attenuating quality.

B. They also break wind, provoke urine, and be more soluble boiled than raw; and raw they nourish not at all, and but a little though they be boiled.

C. They be naught for those that are choleric, but good for such as are replete with raw and phlegmatic humours; and for women that have their terms stayed upon a cold cause, by reason they open the passages that are stopped.

D. Galen writeth, That they provoke the haemorrhoids to bleed if they be laid unto them, either by themselves, or stamped with vinegar.

E. The juice of Onions sniffed up into the nose, purgeth the head, and draweth forth raw phlegmatic humors.

F. Stamped with salt, rue, and honey, and so applied, they are good against the biting of a mad dog.

G. Roasted in the embers, and applied, they ripen and break cold apostumes, boils, and such like.

H. The juice of Onions mixed with the decoction of Pennyroyal, and anointed upon the gouty member with a feather, or a cloth wet therein, and applied, easeth the same very much.

I. The juice anointed upon a pilled or bald head in the sun, bringing again the hair very speedily.

K. The juice taketh away the heat of scalding with water or oil, as also burning with fire and gun-powder, as is set forth by a very skilful Chirurgeon named Master William Clowes, one of the Queen's Chirurgeons; and before him by Ambrose Parey, in his Treatise of Wounds made by Gunshot.

L. Onions diced, and dipped in the juice of Sorrel, and given unto the sick of a tertian ague, to eat, take away the fit in once or twice so taking them.

Of Garlic, Gerard wrote:

A. Being eaten, it heateth the body extremely, attenuateth and maketh thin thick and gross humors; cutteth such as are tough and clammy, digesteth and consumeth them; also openeth obstructions, is an enemy to all cold poisons, and to the bitings of venomous beasts: and therefore Galen nameth it Theriaca Rusticorum, or the husbandman's Treacle.

B. It yieldeth to the body no nourishment at all, it engendereth naughty and sharp blood. Therefore such as are of a hot complexion must especially abstain from it. But if it be boiled in water until such time as it hath lost his sharpeness, it is the less forcible, and retaineth no longer his evil juice, as Galen saith.

C. It taketh away the roughness of the throat, it helpeth an old cough, it provoketh urine, it breaketh and consumeth wind, and is also a remedy for the dropsy which proceedeth of a cold cause.

D. It killeth worms in the belly, and driveth them forth. The milk also wherein it hath been sodden is given to young children with good success against the worms.

E. It helpeth a very cold stomach, and is a preservative against the contagious and pestilent air.

F. The decoction of Garlic used for a bath to sit over, bringeth down the flowers and secondines or after-burden, as Dioscorides saith.

G. It taketh away the morphew, tetters, or ringworms, scabbed heads in children, dandruff and scurf, tempered with honey, and the parts anointed therewith.

H. With Fig leaves and Cumin it is laid on against the bitings of the mouse called in English, a shrew.

Gerard listed wild garlic and Ramsons (ramps) together:

A. Wild Garlic, or Crow-Garlic, as Galen saith, is stronger and of more force than the garden Garlic.

B. The leaves of Ramsons be stamped and eaten ofdivers in the Low-countries, with fish for a sauce, even as we do eat green-sauce made with sorrel.

C. The same leaves may very well be eaten in April and May with butter, of such as are of a strong constitution, and labouring men.

D. The distilled water drunk breaketh the stone, and driveth it forth, and provoketh urine.

Of Leeks, he wrote:

Being boiled it is less hurtful, by reason that it loseth a great part of his sharpness: and yet being so used it yieldeth no good juice. But being taken with cold herbs his too hot quality is tempered.

A. Being boiled and eaten with ptisan or barley cream; it concocteth and bringeth up raw humours that lie in the chest. Some affirm it to be good in a lohoch or licking medicine, to cleanse the pipes of the lungs.

B. The juice drunk with honey is profitable against the bitings of venomous beasts, and likewise the leaves, stamped and laid thereupon.

C. The same juice, with vinegar, frankincense, and milk, or oil of roses, dropped into the ears, mitigateth their pain, and is good for the noise in them.

D. Two drams of the seed, with the like weight of myrtle berries drunk, stop the spitting of blood which hath continued a long time. The same ingredients put into wine keep it from souring, and being already sour, amend the same, as divers write. It cutteth and attenuateth gross and tough humours.

E. Lobel commends the following Loch as very effectual against phlegmatic quinsies, and other cold catarrhs which are like to cause suffocation. This is the description thereof; Take blanched almonds three ounces, four figs, soft Bdellium half an ounce, juice of Liquorice, two ounces, of sugar candy dissolved in a sufficient quantity of juice of Leeks, and boiled in Balneo to the height of a syrup, as much as shall be requisite to make the rest into the form of an eclegma.

The Hurts.

It heateth the body, engendereth naughty blood, causeth troublesome and terrible dreams, offendeth the eyes, dulleth the sight, hurteth those that are by nature hot and choleric, and is noisome to the stomach, and breedeth windiness.

I certainly do not agree with Gerard concerning eating leeks – I love them and have not yet experienced naughty blood!

Of chives, he said:

A. Chives attenuate or make thin, open, provoke urine, engender hot and gross vapours, and are hurtful to the eyes and brain. They cause troublesome dreams, and work all the effects that the Leek doth.

B. The Vine-leek, or Ampeloprason, provoketh urine mightily, and bringeth down the flowers. It cureth the bitings of venomous beasts, as Dioscorides writeth.

Culpepper tells us:

ONION

They are so well known, that I need not spend time about writing a description of them.

Government and virtues : Mars owns them, and they have gotten this quality, to draw any corruption to them, for if you peel one, and lay it upon a dunghill, you shall find it rotten in half a day, by drawing putrefaction to it; then, being bruised and applied to a plague sore, it is very probable it will do the like. Onions are flatulent, or windy; yet they do somewhat provoke appetite, increase thirst, ease the belly and bowels, provoke women's courses, help the biting of a mad dog, and of other venomous creatures, to be used with honey and rue, increase sperm, especially the seed of them. They also kill worms in children if they drink the water fasting wherein they have been steeped all night. Being roasted under the embers, and eaten with honey or sugar and oil, they much conduce to help an inveterate cough, and expectorate the tough phlegm. The juice being snuffed up into the nostrils, purges the head, and helps the lethargy, (yet the often eating them is said to procure pains in the head). It hath been held by divers country people a great preservative against infection to eat Onions fasting with bread and salt. As also to make a great Onion hollow, filling the place with good treacle, and after to roast it well under the embers, which, after taking away the outermost skin thereof, being beaten together, is a sovereign salve for either plague or sore, or any other putrefied ulcer. The juice of Onions is good for either scalding or burning by fire, water, or gunpowder, and used with vinegar, takes away all blemishes, spots and marks in the skin: and dropped in the ears, eases the pains and noise of them. Applied also with figs beaten together, helps to ripen and break imposthumes, and other sores.

Leeks are as like them in quality, as the pome-water is like an apple. They are a remedy against a surfeit of mushrooms, being baked under the embers and taken, and being boiled and applied very warm, help the piles. In other things they have the same property as the Onions, although not so effectual.

GARLICK

The offensiveness of the breath of him that hath eaten Garlick, will lead you by the nose to the knowledge hereof, and (instead of a description) direct you to the place where it grows in gardens, which kinds are the best, and most physical.

Government and virtues. Mars owns this herb. This was anciently accounted the poor man's treacle, it being a remedy for all diseases and hurts (except those which itself breed.) It provokes urine, and women's courses, helps the biting of mad dogs and other venomous creatures, kills worms in children, cuts and voids tough phlegm, purges the head, helps the lethargy, is a good preservative against, and a remedy for any plague, sore, or foul ulcers; takes away spots and blemishes in the skin, eases pains in the ears, ripens and breaks imposthumes, or other swellings. And for all those diseases the onions are as effectual. But the Garlick hath some more peculiar virtues besides the former, viz. it hath a special quality to discuss inconveniences coming by corrupt agues or mineral vapours; or by drinking corrupt and stinking waters; as also by taking wolfbane, henbane, hemlock, or other poisonous and dangerous herbs. It is also held good in hydropick diseases, the jaundice, falling sickness, cramps, convulsions, the piles or hæmorrhoids, or other cold diseases. Many authors quote many diseases this is good for; but conceal its vices. Its heat is very vehement, and all vehement hot things send up but ill-favoured vapours to the brain. In coleric men it will add fuel to the fire; in men oppressed by melancholy, it will attenuate the humour, and send up strong fancies, and as many strange visions to the head; therefore let it be taken inwardly with great moderation; outwardly you may make more bold with it.

CHIVES

Names. Called also rush-leeks, chives, civet, and sweth.

Government and virtues. I confess I had not added these, had it not been for a country gentleman, who by a letter, certified me, that amongst other herbs, I had left these out; they are indeed a kind of leek, hot and dry in the fourth degree, and so under the dominion of Mars: if they be eaten raw, (I do not mean raw opposite to roasted or boiled, but raw, opposite to chymical preparation) they send up very hurtful vapours to the brain, causing troublesome sleep, and spoiling the eye-sight, yet of them, prepared by the art of the alchymist, may be made an excellent remedy for the stoppage of the urine.

By the time of Mrs. Grieve, onions were much less used in the English tradition as medicine:

Onion

Botanical: Allium cepa (LINN.)

Medicinal Action and Uses---Antiseptic, diuretic. A roasted Onion is a useful application to tumours or earache.

The juice made into a syrup is good for colds and coughs. Hollands gin, in which Onions have been macerated, is given as a cure for gravel and dropsy.

However, her entry on garlic is fascinating:

In England, Garlic, apart from medicinal purposes, is seldom used except as a seasoning, but in the southern counties of Europe it is a common ingredient in dishes, and is largely consumed by the agricultural population. From the earliest times, indeed, Garlichas been used as an article of diet.

Garlic was placed by the ancient Greeks (Theophrastus relates) on the piles of stones at cross-roads as a supper for Hecate, and according to Pliny garlic and onion were invocated as deities by the Egyptians at the taking of oaths.

It was largely consumed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, as we may read in Virgil's Eclogues. Horace, however, records his detestation of Garlic, the smell of which, even in his days (as much later in Shakespeare's time), was accounted a sign of vulgarity. He calls it 'more poisonous than hemlock,' and relates how he was made ill by eating it at the table of Maecenas. Among the ancient Greeks, persons who partook of it were not allowed to enter the temples of Cybele. Homer, however, tells us that it was to the virtues of the 'Yellow Garlic' that Ulysses owed his escape from being changed by Circe into a pig, like each of his companions.

Homer also makes Garlic part of the entertainment which Nestor served up to his guest Machaon.

There is a Mohammedan legend that:

'when Satan stepped out from the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, Garlick sprang up from the spot where he placed his left foot, and Onion from that where his right foot touched.'

There is a curious superstition in some parts of Europe, that if a morsel of the bulb be chewed by a man running a race it will prevent his competitors from getting ahead of him, and Hungarian jockeys will sometimes fasten a clove of Garlic to the bits of their horses in the belief that any other racers running close to those thus baited, will fall back the instant they smell the offensive odour.

Many of the old writers praise Garlic as a medicine, though others, including Gerard, are sceptical as to its powers. Pliny gives an exceedingly long list of complaints, in which it was considered beneficial, and Galen eulogizes it as the rustics' Theriac, or Heal-All. One of its older popular names in this country was 'Poor Man's Treacle,' meaning theriac, in which sense we find it in Chaucer and many old writers.

A writer in the twelfth century - Alexander Neckam - recommends it as a palliative for the heat of the sun in field labour, and in a book of travel, written by Mountstuart Elphinstone about 100 years ago, he says that-

'the people in places where the Simoon is frequent eat Garlic and rub their lips and noses with it when they go out in the heat of the summer to prevent their suffering from the Simoon.'

Garlic is mentioned in several Old English vocabularies of plants from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, and is described by the herbalists of the sixteenth century from Turner (1548) onwards. It is stated to have been grown in England before the year 1540. In Cole's Art of Simpling we are told that cocks which have been fed on Garlic are 'most stout to fight, and 50 are Horses': and that if a garden is infested with moles, Garlic or leeks will make them 'leap out of the ground presently.'

The name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, being derived from gar (a spear) and lac (a plant), in reference to the shape of its leaves.

The use of Garlic as an antiseptic was in great demand during the past war. In 1916 the Government asked for tons of the bulbs, offering 1s. per lb. for as much as could be produced. Each pound generally represents about 20 bulbs, and 5 lb. divided up into cloves and planted, will yield about 38 lb. at the end of the growing season, so it will prove a remunerative crop.

The following appeared in the Morning Post of December 12, 1922:

'A Dog's Recovery

'Mr. W. H. Butlin, Tiptree, records the following experience: A fox-terrier, aged 14 years, appeared to be developing rapidly a pitiable condition, with a swollen neck and an ugly intractable sore at the root of the tail, and dull, coarse coat shedding abundantly. I administered Yadil Antiseptic in his drinking water and in less than a month the dog became perfectly sound and well, a mirabile dictu, his coat became firm, soft, and glossy.' (Yadil is a patent medicine said to contain Garlic.)

'In cases of arterial tension, MM. Chailley-Bert, Cooper, and Debrey, at the Society of Biology, recommended about 30 drops of alcoholic extract as a remedy. To be administered by the mouth or intravenously.'

Although only the cultivated Garlic is utilized medicinally, all of the