and respiratory troubles includes a large number for ‘consumption’, all 25 for
the last of these Irish. If the British and Irish records for application to liver
trouble (24) and jaundice (22) are added together, those constitute the fourth
largest ailment overall—and the majority of them are Irish. So are most of
those for use as a cleansing tonic (38 records jointly), for stomach pains or
upsets (24) and for rheumatism (19). Heart trouble, however, seems an ex-
clusively Irish affliction as far as the use of dandelion is concerned, and the 21
records arenoticeably numerous along
the western coast from Leitrim to Limer-
ick. Finally, in the long ‘tail’ of much more
minor applications, normal in the case of
most widely used folk herbs, Ireland ap-
pears to have had a monopoly with re-
gard to cuts (Cavan,^83 Wicklow,^84 Limer-
ick,^85 Kerr y^86 ), nervousness (Cavan,^87
Wicklow,^88 Limerick^89 ), thrush (Co. Dub-
lin,^90 Carlow,^91 Limerick^92 ), sprains and
swellings (Kildare,^93 Limerick^94 ), weak or
broken bones (Limerick,^95 Kerr y^96 ), head-
aches (Cavan,^97 Limerick^98 ), diabetes
(Kilkenny^99 ), sore eyes (Roscommon^100 ),
external cancers (Carlow^101 ), anaemia
(specific record untraced^102 ) and—the
ultimate cure—‘every disease’ (Tipper-
ary^103 ). Rather curiously, the only ones
with Irish records to complement Brit-
ish ones are for indigestion (Donegal,^104
Carlow^105 ) and corns (Co. Dublin^106 ).
Uniquely Irish also is the wide reputation
dandelions are said to have once enjoyed
in parts of the country for easing tooth-
ache, allegedly because their much-
toothed leaves were held to be a signa-
ture.^107 Another belief associated with the
leaves, recorded from Limerick, was that
tobe effective as a tonic those with a
white vein had to be eaten by a man and
those with a red one by a woman.^108288 Taraxacum officinaleTaraxacum officinale, dandelion (Bock
1556, p. 100)