was referring to a local use or whether the information was second-hand,
taken from some printed source, possibly even a German one (for the author
was an immigrant from Germany).
Rosaceae
Filipendula ulmaria (Linnaeus) Maximowicz
Spiraea filipendula Linnaeus,F. hexapetala Gilibert
meadowsweet
arctic and temperate Europe, temperate Asia; introduced into
eastern North America
Like willows,Filipendula ulmaria contains salicylate (it is the one from which
salicylic acid was first made in 1835). It has been widely employed for the
same range of complaints for which today we would use aspirin, and many
claim it is free from aspirin’s side effects. Back in 1691, John Aubrey wrote to
John Ray about a woman in Bedfordshire who was achieving ‘great cures’
with the plant for agues and fevers, with the addition of some green wheat.^65
There are more recent records of its use for fevers, coughs, colds, sore throats
or headaches in Devon,^66 Somerset,^67 the Highlands and/or Western Isles,^68
and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.^69 But it has enjoyed a reputation for
more then just those: for treating burning or itching eyes in Devon,^70 as a
tonic in Devon also^71 (and in Nottinghamshire, too, to judge from the name
‘Old Man’s Pepper’ recorded for it from there^72 ), for curing diarrhoea, ‘stom-
ach cold’ and pains in general in Somerset,^73 relieving sunburn or reducing
freckles in Norfolk^74 and easing nervousness in the Isle of Man.^75
In Ireland some of those uses are on record, too: for colds in Cavan,^76 for
diarrhoea there^77 and in Cork,^78 as a seasonal tonic in Louth^79 and for ner-
vousness in Westmeath.^80 But apparently peculiar to Ireland is a reputation
for dropsy and kidney trouble in Cavan^81 and Sligo,^82 and for jaundice in
children in Limerick.^83 In ‘Ulster’ alone a decoction of the plant seems to
have been recorded as a drink for those with a tendency to scrofula.^84
Rubus idaeus Linnaeus
raspberry
northern and central Eurasia, North America
An infusion of the leaves ofRubus idaeus drunk regularly during pregnancy
to allay labour pain is recorded from many parts of England as well as from
the Highlands.^85 Probably an age-old remedy, it has more recently received
respect in official medicine and by the 1940s was in general use in one of the
140 Chrysosplenium