186 Oenanthe crocata
That Manx use has found fuller expression in Ireland, where only a plant
of such virulence has apparently been rated an effective-enough weapon to
deploy against tumours. As late as the 1840s it was still frequently used for
those in Cork and other southern counties,^76 and if those were the ‘external
swellings’ known under the name ‘tahow’, in Londonderry also.^77 The ‘water
parsnip’ and ‘water hemlock’ reported more recently to have been applied in
Ireland to scrofulous swellings in the neck^78 sound like this plant, too. It is
probably also the ‘water parsnip’ that has been reckoned to cure boils in Cork.^79
Foeniculum vulgare Miller
fennel
South Europe, North Africa; introduced into most temperate regions
(Folk credentials questionable) Well naturalised in parts of the British Isles,
especially near coasts,Foeniculum vulgare may conceivably be native but is
more probably wholly derived from cultivation. Only four records have been
traced of its use in folk medicine, and that two of those also involve the cul-
tivated sage strongly suggests that this has been a garden herb exclusively.
Silaum silaus (Linnaeus) Schinz & Thellung
pepper-saxifrage
northern and western Europe, western Siberia
‘English saxifrage’ (as he called it) ‘our English women phisitians have in
great use ...against the stone’, wrote John Gerard.^80 Half a century later, John
Parkinson strengthened the claim ofSilaum silaus as a folk herb by describ-
ing it as ‘much used by country people’ to help break and expel the stone,
provoke urine and expel wind and colic as well as ‘much given to sucking
children for the frets, as women call it, which is winde in their bodies and
stomackes.’^81 There are no localised records for it, however, nor any of more
recent date in the folk literature. This rather suggests that herb women had
taken it up from learned sources.
Meum athamanticum Jacquin
spignel, baldmoney
western and central Europe
Dubiously identified with a herb featured by Dioscorides,Meum athaman-
ticum became familiar as ‘meu’ to apothecaries, among whom its aromatic
and acrid roots had a reputation as a cure for flatulence. Latterly, the wild
populations of the plant in the Pennines were raided, to the point of near-
extinction, when snuff became fashionable and the roots were in demand
for a scent for that.^82