only records for drinking that infusion are from the south-eastern quarter of
England—more widespread, alternative ways of ingesting the plant, at any
rate for other afflictions for which aspirin would now be customary, are
chewing the bark or a twig or sucking the leaves, for rheumatism in Surrey^100
and Herefordshire,^101 for arthritis in Norfolk^102 and for a headache or hang-
over in Norfolk^103 and Lincolnshire.^104
Willows have also attracted a variety of applications in Britain arising
from their astringency: staunching bleeding as well as reducing dandruff in
Cumbria^105 and, combined with a soaking in vinegar, removing warts in
Wiltshire^106 and corns in Norfolk.^107
Ireland can boast at least one record of an aspirin-like use: the leaves of
what a botanist found to be creeping willow (Salix repens)havebeenmuch
prized for ‘pains in the head’ in one glen in Donegal.^108 Ireland has also
known one use as an ‘astringent’: for diarrhoea in Leitrim^109 and Cork.^110
Butmixing the ashes with some fatty substance to produce an ointment has
enabled the virtues of ‘sallies’ to be extended to further and different kinds of
conditions in that country: to ringworm in Westmeath,^111 erysipelas in
Laois^112 and baldness in Galway^113 ;itwas doubtless the way in which the blos-
som of ‘weeping willow’ (strictly speaking the planted speciesS. babylonica
Linnaeus, but usually hybrids of that) was used on burns in Tipperary, too.^114
Brassicaceae
Sisymbrium officinale (Linnaeus) Scopoli
hedge mustard
Europe, south-western Asia, North Africa; introduced into North
and South America, South Africa, Australasia
(Folk credentials lacking) An ancient remedy for coughs, chest complaints
and particularly hoarseness,Sisymbrium officinale appears to be unrecorded
in any unambiguously folk context. Essentially a weed of waste places, the
species is very doubtfully native in the British Isles and may indeed be only a
relatively recent incomer. ‘Blue eye’, recorded as a jaundice remedy in Wick-
low,^115 has been ascribed to it but must surely belong there to germander
speedwell (Ve ronica chamaedrys).
Descurainia sophia (Linnaeus) Webb ex Prantl
Sisymbrium sophia Linnaeus
flixweed
Eurasia, North Africa; introduced into North and South America,
New Zealand
116 Salix