dogs have been traced from Cornwall,^54 Devon,^55 Dorset,^56 ‘Wales’^57 and Gal-
loway^58 —all areas where adders occur in particular numbers. In Moray^59 in
the north of Scotland, soaking the affected limb in a preparation of the leaves
and buds was a more down-to-earth alternative. That that belief is not only
ancient but was once Europe-wide is shown by its presence in the Norse sagas
as well as the writings of Pliny the Elder.
Though healing powers attributed to any plant with a magical aura are
ipso facto suspect, it is nevertheless possible that some chemical property of
the sap does have a genuinely beneficial effect. Before the advent of quinine
(from Cinchona spp.), the bark was popular in learned medicine for allaying
fevers, and although no reflection of that particular use has been found in the
folk records, they do contain other applications that are clearly cognate. One
is a cure for earache (or deafness or tinnitus or even a headache), recorded
from Sussex^60 and a chain of Irish counties, which involves heating a twig or
young sapling in the fire, catching on a spoon the liquid that emerges and
putting that hot into the ear, normally on cotton wool (or presumably a puff-
ball before that product was invented). The sap has been similarly extracted
to put on warts in Devon^61 and Leicestershire^62 or on an aching tooth in the
Highlands.^63
Apart from the buds, which are a slimming remedy in Gloucestershire,^64
and the seeds, reputedly an aphrodisiac in Devon,^65 it is the leaves that have
otherwise been used. Reputed to purge, these have been valued in Glouces-
tershire for eliminating ‘gravel’.^66
It is in Ireland, though, that the leaves have been pre-eminently valued
herbally: boiled or laid on fresh, they have been a remedy for rheumatism
and its allies (Roscommon,^67 Meath,^68 Co.Dublin,^69 Laois,^70 We x f o r d ,^71
Wa t e r f o r d ,^72 Cork,^73 Kerr y^74 )orforgout (Cavan,^75 Cork^76 ). More compact,
and more intriguing, is the distribution pattern displayed by the records for
the earache cure described above. All those traced come from the eastern
province of Leinster (Westmeath,^77 Co.Dublin,^78 Kildare,^79 Offaly,^80 Wick-
low,^81 We x f o r d^82 ) and thus perhaps have a Norse origin as the explanation.
Ireland’s greater valuing of the tree is further shown by a wider range of minor
uses recorded for it: for ringworm in Down^83 and Antrim^84 (by enveloping
the affected part in the smoke from smouldering twigs), for heartburn in
Meath^85 and for burns in Kilkenny (by boiling the bark in linseed oil).^86 Even
England’s application to warts has echoes in Westmeath^87 and Co. Dublin.^88
Plantains, Figworts, Foxglove and Speedwells 249