(Folk credentials lacking) The remains of the once popular medicinal herb
Descurainia sophia have been detected in a Romano-British deposit,^116 but in
the absence of any records for it in the folk literature, that occurrence seems
safely attributable to an alien import by Roman settlers or Roman commerce.
Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieberstein) Cavara & Grande
garlic mustard, hedge garlic, Jack-by-the-hedge, sauce alone
Europe, south-western Asia, North Africa; introduced into North
America, New Zealand
As its vernacular names indicate,Alliaria petiolata functioned as an alterna-
tive to garlic. Though that was chiefly in cooking, its leaves also substituted for
garlic’s medicinally by being applied externally to sore throats in Kent (?)^117
and chewed for sore gums and mouth ulcers in Norfolk.^118 Rubbing the leaves
on the feet was a cure for cramp in Somerset.^119 More surprising, though,
has been its use for wounds (again in Kent?).^120
The prevalence of ramsons, otherwise wild garlic (Allium ursinum), in
the west of the British Isles, would explain the restriction of these records to
the south-eastern quarter of England, to which this hedge plant may for-
merly have been mainly restricted. There has been a find of it in a Romano-
British deposit.^121
Erysimum cheiranthoides Linnaeus
treacle mustard
Europe, north Asia, North Africa; introduced into North America,
New Zealand
Under the name ‘English wormseed’ in the seventeenth century,Erysimum
cheiranthoides was still ‘much used by the country people where it groweth to
kill the wormes in children, the seede being a little bruised and given in drinke
or any other way.’^122 Rather over a century later, William Withering made an
assertion to the same effect, though possibly just repeating the statement of
that predecessor.^123 Curiously, though, no more recent records of this plant’s
use in folk medicine have been discovered.
Barbarea vulgaris R. Brown; and perhaps also B. intermedia Boreau
(western and south-western Europe; introduced into Australasia)
winter-cress
Eurasia, North Africa; introduced into North America, Australasia
(Folk credentials questionable) ‘I had it shown to me as a secret cure of a sore
leg, and nourished in the garden as a rare plant after it had done the feat.’
St John’s-worts to Primulas 117