The Book Of Herbs - free ebook by Rosalind Northcote

THE BOOK OF HERBS

BY LADY ROSALIND NORTHCOTE JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON AND NEW YORK. MCMIII Turnbull &amp; Spears, Printers, Edinburgh...

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HISTORY OF THE CRIES OF LONDON

Roxburghe Ballads. Roxburghe Ballads. THE BOOK OF HERBS...

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INTRODUCTION

What is a Herb? I have heard many definitions, but never one that satisfied the questioner, and shall, therefore, take warning by the failures of others and make no attempt to define the word here. It is, however, fairly safe to say generally that a herb is a plant, green, and aromatic and fit to eat, but it is impossible to deny that there are several undoubted herbs that are not aromatic, a few more grey than green, and one or two unpalatable, if not unwholesome. So no more space shall be devo

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Anise (Pimpinella Anisum).

The Salad. Trans. from “Virgil.”— Cowper. In Virgil’s time Anise evidently must have been used as a spice. It is a graceful, umbelliferous plant, a native of Egypt, but the seeds will ripen in August in England if it is planted in a warm and favourable situation. Abercrombie [5] says “its chief use is to flavour soups, but Loudon [6] includes it among confectionery herbs.” [5] “Every Man his own Gardener.” [6] “Encyclopædia of Gardening,” 1822....

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Balm (Melissa officinalis).

Merry Wives of Windsor , V. v. 65. The Muses Elysium. — Drayton. Devonshire Song. The lemon-scent of Balm makes it almost the most delicious of all herbs, and it is for its fragrance that Shakespeare and Drayton have alluded to it in these passages. In the song it is mentioned for another reason, for the flowers here are used as emblems. The first verse describes a garden of fair blossoms stolen, alas! from their owner. This verse of the song shows she has planted flowers whose nature is to cons

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Sweet Basil (Ocymum basilium) and Bush Basil (O. minimum).

To Emilia Viviani. — Shelley. Basil is beloved of the poets, and the story of Isabella and the Basil-pot keeps the plant in memory, where it is itself never, or very rarely, seen. The opening lines of Drayton’s pretty poem beginning with Claia’s speech:— are well known, and it is a pity that the whole of it is not oftener quoted. Two maidens make rival chaplets, and then examine the store of simples just gathered by a hermit. Claia chooses her flowers for beauty, Lelipa hers for scent, and Clari

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Borage (Borago officinalis).

N. Hopper. This reference to Borage touches a long-lived belief— briefly states one reason of its popularity, which has lasted ever since Pliny praised the plant; besides this, it was supposed to exhilarate the spirits and drive away melancholy. De Gubernatis [12] only found one charge against it, amid universal praise, and this is in a Tuscan ninnerella , a cradle song, where it is accused of frightening a baby! But this evidence is absolutely unsupported by any tradition, and he considers it w

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Bugloss (Anchusa officinalis).

Britannia’s Pastorals, Book II. — W. Browne. Winchester Castle. — N. Hopper. Gerarde put Bugloss in one chapter, and Alkanet or Wild Bugloss in another, but nowadays Bugloss or Alkanet are names for the same plant, Anchusa officinalis . The drawings of his Bugloss resemble our Alkanet much more closely than they do any other plant called Bugloss, such as Lycopsis arvensis , small Bugloss, or Echium vulgare , Viper’s Bugloss. The old herbalists, however, were most confusing on the subject. They a

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Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba).

Henry V. , V. ii. 48. Burnet has “two little leives like unto the winges of birdes, standing out as the bird setteth her winges out when she intendeth to flye.... Y e Duchmen call it Hergottes berdlen, that is God’s little berde, because of the colour that it hath in the toppe.” This is Turner’s [15] information. He has a pleasant style, and tells us out-of-the-way facts or customs in a charming manner. Burnet is the first of the three plants that Sir Francis Bacon desired to be set in alleys, “

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Caraway (Carum carvi).

Shallow. Now, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour we will eat a last year’s Pippin of my own grafting, with a dish of Caraways, and so forth. II. Henry IV. v. 3. In Elizabethan days, Caraway Seeds were appreciated at dessert, and Canon Ellacombe says that the custom of serving roast apples with a little saucerful of Caraway Seed is still kept up at some of the London livery dinners. It was the practice to put them among baked fruits or into bread-cakes, and they were also “made into co

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Celery (Apium graveolens).

This is quite without romance. The older herbalists did not know it and Evelyn says: “Sellery... was formerly a stranger with us (nor very long since in Italy itself).... Nor is it a distinct species of smallage or Macedonian Parsley, tho’ somewhat more hot and generous, by its frequent transplanting, and thereby render’d sweeter scented.” For its “high and grateful taste, it is ever plac’d in the middle of the grand sallet , at our great men’s tables, and Proctor’s Feasts, as the grace of the w

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Chervil (Scandix Cerefolium).

Piers Plowman. Chervil was much used by the French and Dutch “boyled or stewed in a pipkin. De la Quintinye recommends it to give a ‘perfuming rellish’ to the salad, and Evelyn says the ‘ Sweete (and as the French call it Musque ) Spanish Chervile,’ is the best and ought ‘never to be wanting in our sallets,’ for it is ‘exceeding wholesome and charming to the spirits.’... This (as likewise Spinach) is used in tarts and serves alone for divers sauces.”...

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Ciboules, Chiboules or Chibbals (Allium Ascalonium).

The Gipsies Metamorphosed. — Ben Jonson. Ciboules are a small kind of onion; De la Quintinye says, “Onions degenerated.” From the reference to them in Piers Plowman , they were evidently in common use here in the time of Langlande. The French gardener adds that they are “propagated only by seeds of the bignes of a corn of ordinary gun-powder,” and Mr Britten identifies them with Scallions or Shallot ( A. ascalonium )....

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Cives, or Chives, or Seives (Allium Schænoprasum).

Britannia’s Pastorals , Book III. Cives and Ciboules are often mentioned together, as in this account of King Oberon’s feast. The leaves are green and hollow and look like rushes en miniature , and would serve admirably for elfin Hautbois. Miss Amherst [18] says that they are mentioned in a list of herbs (Sloane MS., 1201) found “at the beginning of a book of cookery recipes, fifteenth century.” She also tells us that when Kalm came to England (May 1748) he noticed them among the vegetables most

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Coriander (Coriandrum sativum).

The Salad. — Cowper. The chief interest attached to Coriander is that in the Book of Numbers, xi. 7, Manna is compared to the seed. It was originally introduced from the East, but is now naturalised in Essex and other places, where it has long been cultivated for druggists and confectioners. The seeds are quite round, like tiny balls, and Hogg remarks that they become fragrant by drying, and the longer they are kept the more fragrant they become. “If taken oute of measure it doth trouble a manne

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Cumin (Cuminum cyminum).

Cumin is also mentioned in the Bible by Isaiah; and also in the New Testament, as one of the plants that were tithed. It is very seldom met with, but the seeds have the same properties as caraway seeds. Gerarde says it has “little jagged leaves, very finely cut into small parcels,” and “spoky tufts” of red or purplish flowers. “The root is slender, which perisheth when it hath ripened his seed,” and it delights in a hot soil. He recommends it to be boyled together with wine and barley meale “to

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Cresses.

Geraint and Enid. Ode to Memory. — Tennyson. Endymion. Ibid. The Brook. — Tennyson. Cresses have great powers of fascination for the poets, and “the cress of the Herbalist is a noun of multitude,” says Dr Fernie. Of these now cultivated, St Barbara’s Cress ( Barbarea vulgaris ) has the most picturesque name, and is the least known. It was once grown for a winter salad, but American Cress ( Erysimum præcox ) is more recommended for winter and early spring. Indian Cress ( Tropæolum majus ), usuall

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Dandelion (Leontodon taraxacum).

William Howitt. Dandelion leaves used to be boiled with lentils, and one recipe bids one have them “chopped as pot-herbes, with a few Allisanders boyled in their broth.” But generally they were regarded as a medicinal, rather than a salad plant. Evelyn, however, includes them in his list, and says they should be “macerated in several waters, to extract the Bitterness. It was with this Homely Fare the Good Wife Hecate entertain’d Theseus .” A better way of “extracting the Bitterness” is to blanch

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Dill (Anethum graveolens).

Nymphidia. — Drayton. The Muses Elysium. Polyolbion. Song xiii. Dill is supposed to have been derived from a Norse word “to dull,” because the seeds were given to babies to make them sleep. Beyond this innocent employment it was a factor in working spells of the blackest magic! Dill is a graceful, umbelliferous plant—not at all suggestive of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde—and the seeds resemble caraway seeds in flavour, but are smaller, flatter and lighter. There is something mysterious about it, because

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Endive (Cichorium Endivia).

Pastorals. — Gay. The Salad. — Cowper. Endive is a plant of whose virtues our prosaic days have robbed us. Once upon a time it could break all bonds and render the owner invisible, and if a lover carried it about him, he could make the lady of his choice believe that he possessed all the qualities she specially admired! Folkard quotes three legends of it from Germany, one each from Austria and Roumania, and an unmistakably Slav story—all of them of a romantic character—and we regard it as a sala

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Fennel (Fæniculum vulgare).

Hamlet , iv. 5. A Handfull of Pleasant Delightes. — C. Robinson. The Case Altered , ii. 2.— Ben Jonson. Piers Plowman. The Faun to his Shadow. — N. Hopper. “Sow Fennel, sow Sorrow.”— Proverb. Few realise from how high an estate fennel has fallen. In Shakespeare’s time we have the plainest evidence that it was the recognised emblem of flattery. Ben Jonson’s allusion is almost as pointed as Robinson’s. It is said that Ophelia’s flowers were all chosen for their significance, so, perhaps, it was no

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Goat’s Beard (Tragopogon pratensis).

Bp. Mant. The habits of Goat’s Beard, or as it is often called, John-go-to-bed-at-noon, are indicated by the latter name. It is less known as Joseph’s Flower, which Mr Friend [24] says “seems to owe its origin to pictures in which the husband of Mary is represented as a long-bearded old man,” but Gerarde gives the Low-Dutch name of his time, “Josephe’s Bloemen,” and says “when these flowers be come to their full maturity and ripeness, they grow into a downy blow-ball, like those of the Dandelion

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Horse-Radish (Cochlearia Armoracia).

Dr Fernie translates its botanical name, Cochlearia , from the shape of the leaves, which resemble, he says, an old-fashioned spoon; ar , near; mor , the sea, from its favourite locality. “For the most part it is planted in gardens... yet have I found it wilde in Sundrie places... in the field next unto a farme house leading to King’s land, where my very good friend Master Bredwell , practitioner in Phisick, a learned and diligent searcher of Samples, and Master William Martin , one of the fello

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Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis).

Muses Elysium. — Drayton. Iago. “Our bodies are our gardeners; so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme... why the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.” Othello , i. 3. Parkinson opens his “Theatre of Plants” with the words: “From a Paradise of pleasant Flowers, I am fallen ( Adam like) to a world of Profitable Herbs and Plants... and first of the Hisopes.... Among other uses, the golden hyssop was of so pleasant a colour, that it provok

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Lamb’s Lettuce or Corn Salad (Valeriana Locusta).

Lamb’s Lettuce is variously known as mâche , doucette , salade de chanoine , poule-grasse , and was formerly called “Salade de Prêter, for their being generally eaten in Lent.” It is a small plant, with “whitish-greene, long or narrow round-pointed leaves... and tufts of small bleake blue flowers.” In corn-fields it grows wild, but Gerarde says, “since it hath growne in use among the French and Dutch strangers in England, it hath been sowen in gardens as a salad herbe,” and adds that among winte

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Marjoram (Origanum).

Lafeu. ’Twas a good lady, ’twas a good lady. We may pick a thousand salads ere we light on such another herb. Clown. Indeed, Sir, she was the Sweet Marjoram of the Salad, or rather the herb of grace. All’s Well that Ends Well , iv. 5. Britannia’s Pastorals. Devonshire Song. The scent of marjoram used to be very highly prized, and in some countries the plant is the symbol of honour. Dr Fernie says Origanum means in Greek the “joy of the mountains,” so charming a name one wishes it could be more o

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Mint (Mentha).

Britannia’s Pastorals , book i. Polyolbion , Song xv. N. Hopper. “Mint,” says De la Quintinye, “is called in French Balm,” which sounds rather confusing; but Evelyn says it is the “Curled Mint, M. Sativa Crispa ,” that goes by this name. Mint was also called “Menthe de Notre Dame,” and in Italy, “Erba Santa Maria,” and in Germany, “Frauen Münze,” though this name is also applied to costmary. This herb used to be strewn in churches. All the various kinds of it were thought to be good against the

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Mustard (Sinapis).

Bottom. Your name, I beseech you, sir? Mustardseed. Mustardseed. Bottom. Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed. Midsummer-Night’s Dream , iii. 1. In 1664 Evelyn wrote that mustard is of “incomparable effect to quicken and revive the Spirits, strengthening the Memory and expelling Hea

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Parsley (Petroselinum sativum).

The Salad. Russell’s Boke of Nature . Muiopotmos. — Spenser. Parsley has the “curious botanic history that no one can tell what is its native country. Probably the plant has been so altered by cultivation as to have lost all likeness to its original self.” [30] Superstitions connected with it are myriad, and Folkard gives two Greek sayings that are interesting. It was the custom among them to border the garden with parsley and rue, and from this arose an idiom, when any undertaking was talked of

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Sage (Salvia officinalis).

Handful of Pleasant Delights. Muiopotmos. — Spenser. Sage is one of those sympathetic plants that feel the fortunes of their owners; and Mr Friend says that a Buckinghamshire farmer told him his recent personal experience. “At one time he was doing badly, and the Sage began to wither, but, as soon as the tide turned, the plant began to thrive again.” Most of the Continental names of the plant are like the botanical one of Salvia , from “ Salvo ,” to save or heal, and its high reputation in medic

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Savory (Satureia).

Muses Elysium. Winter’s Tale , iv. 4. Muiopotmos. Savory, satureia, was once supposed to belong to the satyrs. “Mercury claims the dominion over this herb. Keep it dry by you all the year, if you love yourself and your ease, and it is a hundred pounds to a penny if you do not.” Culpepper follows this advice with a long list of ailments, for all of which this herb is an excellent remedy. Summer savory ( S. hortensis ) and winter savory ( S. Montana ) are the only kinds considered in England as a

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Sorrel (Rumex).

Swinburne. Endymion. The Salad. Muses Elysium. Sorrel and mallow seem to have been associates anciently, perhaps because it was thought that the virtues of the one would counterbalance those of the other. “From May to August the meadows are often ruddy with the sorrel, the red leaves of which point out the graves of the Irish rebels who fell at Tara Hill in the ‘Ninety-eight,’ the local tradition asserting that the plants sprang from the patriots’ blood.” [34] The Spaniards used to call sorrel,

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Tarragon (Artemisia Dracunculus).

“Tarragon is cherished in gardens.... Ruellius and such others have reported many strange tales hereof scarce worth the noting, saying that the seede of flaxe put into a radish roote or sea onion, and so set, doth bring forth this herbe Tarragon.” This idea was apparently still current though discredited by the less superstitious in Gerarde’s time. Parkinson mentions a great dispute between ancient herbalists as to the identity of the flower called Chysocoma by Dioscorides. After quoting various

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Thyme (Thymus vulgaris).

Pan’s Music — Shelley . Pan’s Music — Shelley . Devonshire Songs. Devonshire Songs. N. Hopper. Br. Pastorals , book ii. N. Hopper. Devonshire Songs. “Among the Greeks, thyme denoted graceful elegance of the Attic style,” and was besides an emblem of activity. “‘To smell of Thyme’ was therefore an expression of praise, applied to those whose style was admirable” (Folkard). In the days of chivalry, when activity was a virtue very highly rated, ladies used “to embroider their knightly lovers’ scarv

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Viper’s Grass or Scorzonera (Scorzonera Hispanica).

The virtues of this herb were known, but not much regarded, before “Monardus, [37] a famous physician in Sivell ,” published a book in which was “set downe that a Moore, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten of that venomous beast or Viper... which they of Catalonia, where they breed in abundance, call in their language Escuersos (from whence Scorsonera is derived), with the juice of the herb, and the root given them to eate,” and states that this would effect a cure when other well-auth

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Wood-Sorrel (Oxalis Acetosella).

Charlotte Smith. The Wood-Sorrel has many pretty names: Alleluia, Hearts, Pain de Coucou , Oseille de Bûcheron ; in Italy, Juliola . Wood-Sorrel is a plant of considerable interest. It has put forward strong claims to be identified with St Patrick’s shamrock, and it has been painted, Mr Friend says, “in the foreground of pictures by the old Italian painters, notably Fra Angelico.” For the explanation of the names: “It is called by the Apothecaries in their shoppes Alleluia and Lugula , the one b

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Alexanders (Smyrnum Olusatrium).

Alexanders, Allisanders, the black Pot-herb or Wild Horse-Parsley, as it is variously called, grows naturally near the sea, and has often been seen growing wild near old buildings. The Italians call it Herba Alexandrina , according to some writers, because it was supposed originally to have come from Alexandria; according to others, because its [38] old name was Petroselinum Alexandrinum , or Alexandrina , “so-called of Alexander , the finder thereof.” The leaves are “cut into many parcells like

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Angelica (Archangelica officinalis).

Du Bartas — Sylvester’s Translation , 1641. Of Plants , book ii.— Cowley. As these lines declare, Angelica was believed to have sprung from a heavenly origin, and greatly were its powers revered. Parkinson says, “All Christian nations likewise in their appellations hereof follow the Latine name as near as their Dialect will permit, onely in Sussex they call the wilde Kinde Kex, and the weavers wind their yarne on the dead stalkes.” The Laplanders crowned their poets with it, believing that the o

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Blites (Blitum).

Dr Prior confirms Evelyn, in calling Bonus Henricus Blites, but the older herbalists seem to have given this name to another plant of the same tribe, the Chenopodiaceæ , because they treat of Blites and Bonus Henricus in separate chapters. Parkinson is very uncomplimentary to them. “Blitum are of the species Amaranthum, Flower Gentle. They are used as arrach, eyther boyled of itself or stewed, which they call Loblolly.... It is altogether insipid and without taste. The unsavouriness whereof hath

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Bloodwort (Lapathum Sanguineum).

The modern Latin name for this dock is Rumex Sanguineus , but Gesner had a more imposing title, Sanguis draconis herba (Dragon’s blood plant). These names are, of course, derived from the crimson colour of its veins, and are the finest thing about it. The little notice it does get is not unmixed praise. “Among the sorts of pot-herbes, Blood-worte hath always been accounted a principall one, although I doe not see any great reason therein .” This is Parkinson’s opinion, but the italics are mine..

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Buck’s-horne (Senebiera Coronopus).

Troilus and Cressida , iii. 2. The School-Mistress. — Shenstone. Buck’s-horne is distinct from Buckshorn Plantain ( Plantago Coronopus ), but it is the latter which is chiefly interesting, and which is meant here. In Evelyn’s day the Latin name was Cornu Cervinum , and other names are Herba Stella , Herb Ivy and Corne de Cerf . Some kinds of plantain were considered good for wounds, but the saying that “plantage” is true to the moon is hard to solve. Buck’s-horne is a plant that has gone altoget

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Camomile (Anthemis nobilis).

Br. Pastorals. Trans. from Meleager. Polyolbion , Song xv. Falstaff. Though the Camomile the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth the more it is wasted the sooner it wears.— I. Henry IV. ii. 4. The camomile is dedicated to St Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, and Mr Friend thinks that the Latin name of wild camomile, Matricaria , comes from a “fanciful derivation” of this word, from mater and cara , or “Beloved Mother.” The name camomile itself is derived from a Greek word meaning

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Cardoons (Cynara Cardunculus).

This plant is also called Spanish Cardoon or Cardoon of Tours. It is a kind of artichoke “which becomes a truly gigantic herbaceous vegetable. The tender stalks of the inner leaves are sometimes blanched and stewed, or used in soups and salads”; but it is much less used in England than on the Continent. Cardoons are said to yield a good yellow dye....

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Clary (Salvia Sclarea).

John Gardener. “Clary, or more properly Clear-eyes,” which indicates one of its supposed chief virtues plainly enough. Wild Clary was called Oculus Christi , and was even more valued than the garden kind. Clary was once “used for making wine, which resembles Frontignac, and is remarkable for its narcotic qualities.” [39] It was also added to “Ale and Beere in these Northern regions (I think the Netherlands are meant here) to make it the more heady.” The young plant itself was eaten, and an appro

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Dittander (Lepidium Latifolium).

Dittander or Pepperwort grows wild in a few places in England, but was once cultivated. It was sometimes used as “a sauce or sallet to meate, but is too hot, bitter and strong for everyone’s taste.” These qualities have gained it the names of Poor Man’s Pepper, and from Tusser, Garden Ginger. Culpepper’s opinion is briefly expressed: “Here is another martial herb for you, make much of it.” It is so “hot and fiery sharpe” that it is said to raise a blister on the hand of anyone who holds it for a

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Elecampane (Inula Helenium).

Rapin. “Some think it took the name from the teares of Helen , from whence it sprang, which is a fable; others that she had her hands full of this herbe when Paris carried her away; others say it was so called because Helen first found it available against the bitings and stingings of venomous beasts; and others thinke that it tooke the name from the Island Helena, where the best was found to grow.” Parkinson gives a wide choice for opinions on the origin of Elecampane, the two first “fables” ar

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Fenugreek (Trigonella fœnum græcum).

Fenugreek “hath many leaves, but three alwayes set together on a foot-stalke, almost round at the ends, a little dented about the sides, greene above and grayish underneath; from the joynts with the leaves come forth white flowers, and after them, crooked, flattish long hornes, small pointed, with yellowish cornered seedes within them.” This description is very exact, and, indeed, the conspicuous horn-like pods, singularly large for the size of the plant, are its most marked characteristic. Turn

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Good King Henry (Chenopodium Bonus Henricus).

This plant is otherwise known as Fat Hen, Shoemaker’s Heels, English Mercury, or as Evelyn says, Blite. He begins with praise: “The Tops may be eaten as Sparagus or sodden in Pottage, and as a very salubrious Esculent. There is both a white and red, much us’d in Spain and Italy”; but he finishes lamely for all his praise: “’tis insipid enough.” Gerarde says: “It is called of the Germans Guter Heinrick , of a certaine good qualitie it hath,” and its name is much the most interesting thing about i

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Herb-Patience (Rumex Patienta).

Calidore — Keats . La Petite Corbeille. Proverb. Herb-Patience was also called Patience-Dock or Monk’s Rhubarb. The French call Water-Dock, Patience d’eau and Parelle des Marais , so the name of the quality that is, in nursery rhyme, a “virtue,” and a “grace,” clings to this dock! Parkinson compares it unfavourably with Bastard Rhubarb, though he says the root is often used in “diet beere”; but Gerarde calls it an “excellent, wholesome pot-herbe,” and relates a tale, in which responsibilities ar

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Horehound (Marrubium vulgare).

Muses Elysium. Polyolbion , Song xiii. Folkard says that horehound is one of the five plants stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter herbs,” which the Jews were ordered to take for the Feast of the Passover, the other four being coriander, horse-radish, lettuce and nettle. The name Marrubium is supposed to come from the Hebrew Marrob , a bitter juice. De Gubernatis writes that horehound was once regarded as a “contre-poison magique,” but very little is said about it on the whole, and it is an uni

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Lady’s-smock (Cardamine pratensis).

An Early Calendar of English Flowers. Love’s Labour Lost , v. 2. Polyolbion , Song xx. Song xv. The May Queen. — Tennyson. “Cuckoo-flower” is a name laid claim to by many flowers, and authorities differ as to which one Shakespeare meant by it. Certainly not the plant under discussion, which is the one we most generally call Cuckoo-flower to-day, for there can be no doubt that this is the “lady’s-smocks” of the line above,—letting alone the fact that the “cuckoo-buds” in the song being of “yellow

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Langdebeefe (Helminthia echoides).

Langdebeefe is mentioned with scanty praise. “The leaves are onely used in all places that I knew or ever could learne, for an herbe for the pot among others.” It is difficult to be absolutely certain as to the identity of the plant, for Gerarde places it with Bugloss, and Parkinson, among the Hawkweeds. Mr Britten says, however, that both writers referred to Helminthia echoides , but that Echium vulgare , Viper’s Bugloss, is the plant that Turner called Langdebeefe, and Viper’s Bugloss is still

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Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra).

Gerarde describes two kinds of Liquorice: the first has “woody branches... beset with leaves of an overworne greene colour, and small blew floures of the colour of an English Hyacinth.” From the peculiar shape and roughness of the seed-pods it was distinguished by the name of “Hedge-hogge Licorice.” This kind was very little used. Common Liquorice resembles it very closely, but has less peculiar seed-vessels. The cultivation of licorish in England began about the year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign,

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Lovage (Ligusticum Scoticum).

Mr Britten says: In Lyte and other early works, this [name] is applied to Levisticum officinale , but in modern British books it is assigned to Ligusticum Scoticum . It grows wild near the sea-shore in Scotland and Northumberland. Lovage “has many long and great stalkes of large, winged leaves, divided into many parts, ... and with the leaves come forth towards the toppes, long branches, bearing at their toppes large umbells of yellow flowers. The whole plant and every part of it smelleth somewh

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Mallow (Malva).

The Brook. — Tennyson. Spring Song. — N. Hopper. Spring Song. — N. Hopper. Parkinson praises mallows both for beauty and virtue. “The double ones, which for their Bravery are entertained everywhere into every Countrywoman’s garden. The Venice Mallow is called Good-night-at-noone, though the flowers close so quickly that you shall hardly see a flower blowne up in the day-time after 9 A.M. ” Some medical advice follows, in which “All sorts of Mallowes” are praised. “Those that are of most use are

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Marigold (Calendula Officinalis).

Cymbeline , ii. 3. Winter’s Tale , iv. 3. Pericles , iv. 1. Two Noble Kinsmen. Introd. Song. Br. Pastorals , book iii. Br. Pastorals , book i. Polyolbion , Song xv. Ibid. Br. Pastorals. The Marigold has enjoyed great and lasting popularity, and though the flower does not charm by its loveliness, the indomitable courage, with which, after even a sharp frost, it lifts up its hanging head, and shows a cheerful countenance, leads one to feel for it affection and respect. In the end of January (1903)

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Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).

C. Robinson. C. Robinson. Muses’ Elysium. Of Plants , book ii.— Cowley. In France, Italy, and Spain, the children make a crêche de noël at Christmas time; that is, they make a shed with stones and moss, and surround it with evergreens powdered with flour and cotton-wool, to make a little landscape. In and about this shed are placed the gens de la crêche ; little earthen figures representing the Holy Family, and the Three Kings with their camels, and the Shepherds with their flocks, the sheep bei

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Purslane (Portulaca).

Thanksgiving. — Herrick. De la Quintinye thought Purslane “one of the prettiest plants in a kitchen-garden , the red or golden being the most agreeable to the eye and the more delicate and difficult to raise than the green. The thick stalks of Purslain that is to run to seed, are good to pickle in Salt and Vinegar for Winter Sallads.” I do not agree with him; the leaves are pretty enough, but thick, fleshy, and of no special charm. The graceful Coriander or the lace-like leaves of Sweet Cicely a

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Ram-ciches (Cicer Arietinum).

Ram-ciches, Ramshead, or Chick Pea, gains the two first names from the curious shape of the seed pods which are “puffed up as it were with winde in which do lie two, or at the most three seeds, small towards the end, with one sharp corner, not much unlike to a Ram’s head.” Turner says that the plant is very ill for newe fallowed ground and that “it killeth all herbes and most and sounest of all other ground thistel,” which seems a loss one could survive. According to Parkinson the seeds are “boy

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Rampion (Campanula Rapunculus).

Polyolbion Song , xv. De Gubernatis tells a most curious story from Calabria almost exactly that of Cupid and Psyche, but it begins by saying that the maiden, wandering alone in the fields, uprooted a rampion, and so discovered a stair-case leading to a palace in the depths of the earth. One of Grimm’s fairy tales is called after the heroine, Rapunzel (Rampion), for she was given this plant’s name, and the whole plot hangs on Rampions being stolen from a magician’s garden. There is an Italian tr

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Rocambole (Allium Scorodoprasum).

Rocambole is a kind of garlic, but milder in flavour, and it is a native of Denmark. De la Quintinye seems to confuse it with Shallots ( Allium ascalonium ), as he writes of “Shallots or Rocamboles, otherwise Spanish Garlick.” Evelyn, speaking of Garlic as impossible—one cannot help feeling with a smothered wistfulness—says: “To be sure, ’tis not fit for Ladies’ Palates, nor those who court them, farther than to permit a light touch in the Dish, with a Clove thereof, much better supplied by the

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Rocket (Eruca sativa).

Various plants claim the name of Rocket, but it was Eruca sativa that was used as a salad herb. Parkinson explains the Italian name Ruchetta and Rucola Gentile thus: “This Rocket Gentle, so-called from the Italians , who by that title of Gentle understand anything that maketh one quicke and ready to jest, to play.” It is certainly not specially gentle in the ordinary sense of the words, for it has leaves “like those of Turneps, but not neere so great nor rough”; and if eaten alone, “it causeth h

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London Rocket (Sisymbrium Irio).

This plant gained its name in a singular way. It is said to have first appeared in London in the spring following the Great Fire, “when young Rockets were seen everywhere springing up among the ruins, where they increased so marvellously that in the summer the enormous crop crowding over the surface of London created the greatest astonishment and wonder.” [50] [50] Folkard....

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Saffron (Crocus sativus).

Br. Pastorals , Book I. Winter’s Tale , iv. 2. You set Saffron and there came up Wolf’s bane. (Saying to express an action which has an unexpected result.) Saffron has been of great importance since the earliest days, and it is mentioned in a beautiful passage of the Song of Solomon. “Thy plants are an orchard of Pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, Camphire with Spikenard, Spikenard and Saffron, Calamus and Cinnamon, with all trees of Frankincense, Myrrh and Aloes, with all the chief spices,” iv

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Samphire (Crithium maritimum).

King Lear , iv. 6. Samphire is St Peter’s Herb, and gains the distinction either because it grows on sea-cliffs, and so is appropriate to the patron of fishermen, or more probably, because it flourishes on rocks, and its roots strike deep into the crevices. The French call it Herbe de St Pierre and Pierce-Pierre , from its peculiar way of growing; and the Italians have the same name, but call it Finocchio marino as well; and this title, translated to Meer-finckell, was also the German and Dutch

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Skirrets (Sium Sisarum).

The Salad. — Cowper. “This is that siser or skirret which Tiberius the Emperour commanded to be conveied unto him from Gelduba, a castle about the river of Rhine,” and which delighted him so much “that he desired the same to be brought unto him everye yeare out of Germanie.” Evelyn found them “hot and moist... exceedingly wholesome, nourishing and delicate... and so valued by the Emperor Tiberius that he accepted them for tribute”—a point that Gerarde’s statement hardly brought out. “This excell

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Smallage (Apium graveolens).

Smallage is merely wild celery, and all that is interesting about it is Parkinson’s description of his first making acquaintance with sweet smallage—our celery, which has been already quoted . He merely says of ordinary smallage that it is “somewhat like Parsley, but greater, greener and more bitter.” It grows wild in moist grounds, but is also planted in gardens, and although “his evil taste and savour, doth cause it not to be accepted unto meats as Parsley,” yet it has “many good properties bo

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Stonecrop (Sedum).

Stone-crop, Stone-hot, Prick-Madam or Trick-Madam is a Sedum , but which Sedum the old Herbalists called by these names is not absolutely clear, it was probably Sedum Telephium or Sedum Album . Evelyn speaks of “Tripe-Madam, Vermicularis Insipida ,” which seems to point to the latter, as that used to be called Worm-grass. He says Tripe-madam is “cooling and moist,” but there is another Stone-crop of as pernicious qualities as the former are laudable, Wall-pepper, Sedum Minus Causticum (most like

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Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata).

Sweet Cicely or Sweet Chervil was apparently less of a favourite than its romantic name would seem to warrant, for I can find no traditions concerning it. “Chervil” (of which this is a variety) says Gerarde, “is thought to be so called because it delighteth to grow with many leaves, or rather that it causeth joy and gladness.” There does not seem much connection between these two interpretations. He continues that “the name Myrrhus is also called Myrrha, taken from his pleasant flavour of Myrrh.

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Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare).

Muses’ Elysium. Polyolbion , Song xv. The name Tansy comes from Athanasia , Immortality, because its flower lasts so long, and it is dedicated to St Athanasius. It is connected with various interesting old customs, and especially with some observed at Easter time. Brand quotes several old rhymes in reference to this. From Douce’s Collection of Carols . The Oxford Sausage. From Shipman’s Poems . The last lines occur in a description of the frost in 1654. None of these quotations refer to the plan

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Thistle (Carduus Marianus and Carduus Benedictus).

Margaret. Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart, it is the only thing for a qualm. Hero. There thou prick’st her with a thistle. Beatrice. Benedictus! why Benedictus? you have some moral in this Benedictus. Margaret. Moral! no, by my troth, I have no moral meaning; I meant plain holy thistle. Much Ado about Nothing , iii, 4. Br. Pastorals , Book i. The history, legends, and traditions surrounding Thistles in general, make far too large a subject to be entere

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Sweet-Jar.

“½ lb. bay salt, ¼ lb. salt-petre and common salt, all to be bruised and put on six baskets of rose-leaves, 24 bay leaves torn to bits, a handful of sweet myrtle leaves, 6 handfuls of lavender blossom, a handful of orange or syringa blossoms, the same of sweet violets, and the same of the red of clove carnations. After having well stirred every day for a week, add ½ oz. cloves, 4 oz. orris root, ½ oz. cinnamon, and two nutmegs all pounded; put on the roses, kept well covered up in a china jar an

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Pot Pourri.

“Gather flowers in the morning when dry and lay them in the sun till the evening. “Put them into an earthen wide jar, or hand basin, in layers. Add the following ingredients:— “Place the rose-leaves, etc., in layers in the jar. Sprinkle the Bay salt and other ingredients on each layer, press it tightly down and keep for two or three months before taking it out.” The following herbs are those which are chiefly valued for their perfume or for their historical associations. BERGAMOT...

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Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).

It is extraordinary how little comment has been made on the handsome red flowers and fragrant leaves of Red Bergamot, or Bee-Balm—a name which Robinson gives it. Growing in masses, it makes a lovely bit of colour, and a very sweet border. Bergamot was a favourite flower in the posies that country people used to take to church, as Mrs Ewing observes in her story “Daddy Darwin’s Dove Cot.” The youthful heroine loses her posy of “Old Man and Marygolds” on the way to Sunday school, and is discovered

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Costmary (Tanacetum Balsamita).

Muiopotmos. Muses’ Elysium. Polyolbion , Song xv. Costmary or Alecost, and Maudeline ( Balsamita Vulgaris ), have so close a semblance that they may be taken together. The German name for Costmary, Frauen münze , supports the natural idea that it was dedicated to the Virgin, but Dr Prior says that the Latin name used to be Costus amarus , not Costus Marie , and that it was really appropriated to St Mary Magdaleine, as its English name Maudeline declares. Both plants were much used to make “sweet

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Germander (Teucrium Chamœdrys).

Polyolbion , Song xv. Muses’ Elysium. Germander was grown as a border to garden “knots,” “though being more used as a strewing herbe for the house than for any other use.” [73] Culpepper says it is “a most prevalent herb of Mercury, and strengthens the brain and apprehension exceedingly;” and Tusser includes it amongst his “strewing herbs”; from which statements it may be gathered that the scent was pungent but agreeable. It is more often mentioned by old herbalists as “bordering knots” than in

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Gilliflower (Dianthus Caryophyllus).

Clement Robinson. Dilly Song. —Songs of the West. The Loyal Lover. Dead Maid’s Land. Dead Maid’s Land. Gillyflowers are, of course, now excluded from the herb-border, but once housewives infused them in vinegar to make it aromatic, and candied them for conserves, and numbered them among their herbs, though that is not the reason that they are mentioned here. They have their place, because the general ideas about them are too pretty to leave out. First, they were the token of gentleness, as Robin

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Lavender (Lavandula vera).

Winter’s Tale , iv. 3. Muiopotmos. Ode to Memory. — Tennyson. C. Robinson. Piscator. “I’ll now lead you to an honest ale-house; where we shall find a cleanly room, lavender in the windows and twenty ballads stuck about the wall.” The Complete Angler. Lavender is one of the few herbs that has always been in great repute and allusions to it are legion. From the custom of laying it among linen, or other carefully stored goods, a proverb has arisen—Timbs quotes from Earle’s Microcosm : “He takes on

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Lavender Cotton (Santolina).

Lavender Cotton is a little grey plant with “very finely cut leaves, clustered buttons of a golden colour and of a sweet smell and is often used in garlands and in decking up of gardens and houses.” The French called it Petit Cyprez and Guarde Robe , from which it may be inferred that it was one of the herbs laid in chests among furs and robes. Tusser counts it among his “strewing herbes,” and it is now chiefly used as an edging to beds or borders....

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Meadow-Sweet (Spiræa Ulmaria).

Pan’s Anniversary. — Ben Jonson. Polyolbion , Song xv. S. Baring-Gould. S. Baring-Gould. Summer. — Clare. Ave Atque Vale. — Swinburne. Phœcia. — N. Hopper. Queen of the Meadow and Bridewort are two of this flower’s most appropriate names and a very pretty one is that which Gerarde tells us the Dutch give it, Reinette . The Herbalists do not say much about the “Little Queen,” but what they do say, is in the highest degree complimentary. Gerarde decides: “The leaves and flowers excel all other str

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Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis).

Hamlet , iv. 5. C. Robinson. Polyolbion , Song xv. November, Shepheard’s Calender. — Spenser. Rosemary has always been of more importance than any other herb, and more than most of them put together. It has been employed at weddings and funerals, for decking the church and for garnishing the banquet hall, in stage-plays, and in “swelling discontent,” of a too great reality; as incense in religious ceremonies, and in spells against magic; “in sickness and in health”; eminently as a symbol, and ye

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Rue (Ruta graveolens).

Winter’s Tale , iv. 3. Richard II. , iii. 4. There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me; we may call it herb of grace o’Sundays O! you may wear your rue with a difference. Hamlet , iv. 5. Paradise Lost , book xi. He who sows hatred, shall gather rue. Danish Proverb. “Ruth was the English name for sorrow and remorse, and to rue was to be sorry for anything or to have pity, ... and so it was a natural thing to say that a plant which was so bitter and had always borne the name Rue or Ruth must be

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Southernwood (Artemisa Abrotanum).

Of Plants , book i.— Cowley. Finnish Bride Song. — N. Hopper. Finnish Bride Song. — N. Hopper. Southernwood has many sobriquets , among which are Lads or Boy’s Love, Old Man, and Maiden’s Ruin; the last a corruption of Armoise du Rône , Mr Friend says. The French have contracted the same title to Auronne and also call the plant Bois de St Jean and Citronelle . Dutch people used to call it Averonne (another form of the French contraction) and the Germans, Stab-wurtz . The name Bois de St Jean is

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Wood-ruff (Asperula Odorata).

Springtide , 1300. Elegy. — Hopper. The wood-ruff or wood-rowell has its leaves “set about like a star, or the rowell of a spurre,” whereby it gains its name. English people also called it Wood-rose and Sweet-Grass; the French, Hépatique étoilée , and the Germans, Waldmeister and Herzfreude , and they steep it in “ Bohle ,” a kind of “cup” made of light wine. In England it used to be “made up into garlands or bundles and hanged up in houses in the heate of summer, doth very wel attemper the aire

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Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium).

Of Plants , book i.— Cowley. July’s Husbandry. — Tusser. Muses’ Elysium. — Drayton. Traditions cluster round Artemisia Absinthium and A. Vulgaris, Mugwort. Canon Ellacombe says that the species are called after Diana, as she was supposed to “find them and delivered their powers and leechdom to Chiron the Centaur... who named these worts from the name of Diana, Artemis;” and he thinks therefore that “Dian’s bud,” spoken of in the Midsummer Night’s Dream was one of them. The plant was of some impo

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Bay (Laurus Nobilis).

Muses’ Elysium. Hesperides. — Herrick. Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve. — Herrick. A Bay-tree invites criticism, as it is certainly not a “herb,” but it is so often classed with some of them, especially with rosemary (to whom it seems to have been a sort of twin) that a brief extract from its interesting history must be made. Herrick’s verses show that both for weddings and decorations, rosemary and bays were paired together—bays being also gilded at weddings—and Brand quotes some lines from the “W

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CHAPTER IV OF THE GROWING OF HERBS

Five hundred Points of Good Husbandry. — Tusser. Five hundred Points of Good Husbandry. — Tusser. The majority of herbs are not exacting in their requirements, but a few foreigners thrive the better for a little protection as a start. This is the opinion of a successful gardener on the Herb-Border in an ordinary kitchen-garden: “As to soil and situation, I used to devote a border entirely to Herbs, under a privet hedge, facing north-west, with a rough marly bottom. I had a plant of most varietie

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CHAPTER V OF HERBS IN MEDICINE

The Poor Phytologist. — James Chambers. The Poor Phytologist. — James Chambers. The old herbalists used so many herbs and found each one good for so many disorders that one is filled with wonder that patients ever died, till one examines into the prescriptions and methods generally, and then one is more astonished that any of them recovered. I shall not mention any prescriptions here, excepting the celebrated antidote to all poison, Venice Treacle. This included seventy-three ingredients, and wa

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CHAPTER VI OF HERBS AND MAGIC

Nymphidia. — Drayton. Nymphidia. — Drayton. Guy Mannering. Amongst the account-books of the Physic Garden in Chelsea, there is one on whose fly-leaf is scrawled a list of “Botanical Writers before Christ.” It begins: Names that one hardly expects to find grouped together, and especially not under this heading. The vegetable world, however, has attracted writers since the earliest times, and in the days when supernatural agencies were almost always brought forward to account for uncomprehended ph

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CHAPTER VII OF HERBS AND BEASTS

Eclogue vii.— Drayton. Shepheard’s Calendar. — Spenser. The Passing of the Shee. — N. Hopper. Herbs and animals may appear linked together in many aspects, but there are two in which I specially wish to look at them—first, glancing at the old traditions that tell of beasts and birds themselves having preferences among herbs; secondly, the human reasoning, which decreed that certain plants must benefit or affect special creatures. The glamour of magic at times hovers over both. Ragwort is St Jame

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