Cornfield poppies have served as a soporific in the Isle of Man^72 and the
Scottish Lowlands.^73 However, they feature in the folk records much more
often in their painkilling role. In Britain this has included treatment of tooth-
ache in Sussex,^74 earache in Somerset^75 and neuralgia in Montgomeryshire.^76
In Norfolk^77 wild poppies (Papaver rhoeas Linnaeus) have been known as
‘headache flowers’, the seeds being chewed there as a hangover cure. Poppies
have been widely believed in Britain to be a cause of headaches as well. In
Essex^78 fomentations have been applied to swollen glands and other inflam-
mations, while in Dorset^79 the plants have been the source of an eye lotion.
Ireland’s array of these subsidiary uses has been strikingly similar:
toothache in Cavan,^80 Westmeath^81 and Co. Dublin,^82 earache in Tipperary,^83
neuralgia in Wicklow,^84 an ingredient in a mixture specifically for mumps in
Tipperary^85 and a role as an eye lotion in ‘Ulster’.^86 Only in the records for
Wicklow have applications additional to those been uncovered: a cure for
warts^87 and a syrup for coughs.^88
Glaucium flavum Crantz
yellow horned-poppy
western and southern Europe, south-western Asia, North Africa;
introduced into North America, Australasia
All parts ofGlaucium flavum,likeChelidonium majus,exude a corrosive latex,
which has predictably attracted some folk usage. Despite its wide distribution
on coastal shingle, however, all but one of the records are from south-western
England. The exception is Cumbria,^89 where the leaves were made into a poul-
tice for bruises. In Dorset and Hampshire,^90 however, it was the root that was
used for that purpose, whence its local names, probably Anglo-Saxon in origin,
‘squat’ (a bruise in West Country dialect) or‘squatmore’.^91 Inthe Isles of Scilly,
however, the root had quite a different reputation: for the removal of pains in
the breast, stomach and intestines as well as for disorders of the lungs. It was
used to that end either as an emetic, in which case the root was scraped or sliced
upwards, or as a purge, in which case the slicing had to be downwards.^92
Chelidonium majus Linnaeus
greater celandine
Europe, north Asia; introduced into North America, New Zealand
Chelidonium majus has no claim to native status in the British Isles and is in
fact normally found lingering in hedges in the vicinity of houses, so only
marginally even ranks as a member of the wild flora; but it has been in Britain
certainly since Roman times (as attested by finds in excavations in Dorset
78 Papaver