ingham.^211 Cities feature too much in this account for there not to be some
suspicion that that may nevertheless be a herbal use originally derived from
the learned tradition. Against that is parsley-piert’s alter ego as ‘bowel-hive
grass’, a name equally indicative of the ailment at which it has been also tar-
geted specifically: inflammation of the bowels or groin in children. A localised
record of the plant in use for that is known from Berwickshire.^212
Rosa Linnaeus
wild rose
northern temperate and subtropical zones; introduced into
Australasia
It is hard to believe that treating colds and sore throats with rose-hip syrup^213
and cuts with the crushed leaves in Essex^214 can be the sole English records of
the use of the common and familiar roses in folk medicine; nothing else, how-
ever, has been traced. A herbal mixture employed in the Highlands to poultice
erysipelas has been recorded as including a decoction of the wood and leaves
of roses,^215 but that may have arisen through common figwort’s (Scrophu-
laria nodosa)being so generally known in folk parlance as ‘the rose’, for, sus-
piciously, it is the latter that has been a remedy for erysipelas in Donegal.^216
In Ireland, wild roses and brambles are too commonly called ‘briars’
interchangeably to allow any appearances of that word in the folk medicine
records to be referred with confidence to either. In Donegal, however, the
juice of a plant expressly named as rós has been a cough cure.^217
Rosa rubiginosa Linnaeus
sweet-briar
Europe, western Asia; introduced into North America, Australasia
Readily told from other wild roses by its distinctive scent and widely grown
in cottage gardens for that,Rosa rubiginosa has been recorded from Long-
ford as taken as a decoction for jaundice.^218 It is possible that the bushes that
served as that source were wild ones, but if so they would only have been
derived from gardens in that particular county. The species is considered a
possible native in some other parts of Ireland, however.
Prunus spinosa Linnaeus
blackthorn, sloe
Europe, south-western Asia; introduced into North America, Australia
A geographical curiosity thrown up by Prunus spinosa is the restriction of its
widespread use for warts virtually to the southern half of England (Dorset,^219
Currants, Succulents and Roses 151