Ligustrum vulgare Linnaeus
privet
western, central and southern Europe, North Africa; introduced
into North America, New Zealand
A decoction of the berries ofLigustrum vulgare,which contain a potentially
dangerous glycoside, has been recorded in more recent years as a home rem-
edy for mumps in Wiltshire.^89
In unspecified parts of Ireland, though, a similar decoction is said to have
enjoyed great popularity for earache, while an infusion has been drunk for
sore throats.^90 In Kildare, on the other hand, anyone following advice to chew
the leaves to heal a sore lip has been carefully warned against swallowing the
juice.^91
All the records leave it unclear whether the native Ligustrum vulgare or the
cultivated L. ovalifolium Hasskarl is the species resorted to. They could be
expected to be more numerous, and from earlier periods, had the former
been used.
Scrophulariaceae
Verbascum thapsus Linnaeus
great mullein; Mary’s candle (Ireland)
Europe, temperate Asia; introduced into North America, Australasia
The favourite remedy for pulmonary tuberculosis in Ireland throughout
recorded history and doubtless long before, known from virtually every part
of that country, has been to boil the woolly leaves ofVerbascum thapsus in
milk, strain the thick, mucilaginous liquid produced by that and then drink
it warm, twice daily.^92 So valued has this plant been there both for that and for
coughs and colds more generally, sore throats, catarrh, bronchitis and asthma
that it was formerly often grown in cottage gardens, sometimes on a consid-
erable scale. Advertisements were placed in newspapers, offering it for sale,
and it was available even in the best chemists’ shops in Dublin.
Though species ofVerbascum have been used for lung and chest com-
plaints over much of Europe at least since Classical times, very curiously that
heavy Irish use is not matched in the records from elsewhere in the British
Isles. Such English ones as have been traced are all from the south-east (Sus-
sex,^93 Buckinghamshire,^94 Norfolk^95 and the Eastern Counties more gener-
ally^96 ) and it would appear not even to have been a member at all of the Welsh
or Scottish folk repertories.
250 Ligustrum vulgare