a leaf inside the shoes^260 ). If put up the nostrils, as John Ray observed,^261 the
leaves can also provoke a nosebleed and by thus reducing congestion in the
blood vessels relieve migraine and headache, a practice recorded from Kent
(?)^262 and Norfolk^263 as far as Britain is concerned. Similarly, by chewing the
leaves or smoking them in a pipe, toothache can be made to disappear, but
that essentially Irish remedy has apparently extended eastwards only to the
Isle of Man.^264
With a reputation as well for opening the pores and inducing sweating,
yarrow has also been widely valued for coughs, heavy colds, bronchitis,
asthma, fevers and catarrh (25 records). As with so many other cold-curing
herbs, it has been hardly less in demand as a treatment for rheumatic com-
plaints (21 records, mostly Irish) and probably for the same reason it has
enjoyed popularity in some areas as a stimulating tonic, countering depres-
sion and cleansing the system (13 records, including, noticeably, from three
areas of heavy Norse settlement (Isle of Man,^265 Orkney,^266 Shetland^267 ).
Other, minor applications recorded from Britain include for kidney trou-
ble in Pembrokeshire,^268 toimprove an oily complexion and to help children
tosleep in Gloucestershire,^269 to cystitis^270 and measles in Norfolk,^271 to rid
children of intestinal worms in Yorkshire’s North Riding^272 and, not altogether
surprisingly in view of this versatility, to ‘all diseases’ in the Isle of Man.^273
Ireland has made up for that apparently rare use of the plant for stopping
nosebleeds by a disproportionately wide popularity for inducing them as a
cure for migraine and headaches (Cavan,^274 Mayo,^275 Carlow,^276 Limerick^277 ),
while as a toothache remedy yarrow has been even more emphatically Irish
(those same counties plus Offaly^278 ). Though known in parts of the country
as the ‘herb of the seven cures’, its repertory has clearly extended well beyond
that limited, clearly magical number of lesser applications as well: for kidney
trouble in ‘Ulster’^279 and Tipperary,^280 jaundice and sore eyes in Cavan,^281
boils in Cork^282 and—echoing the optimism among the Manx—‘all pains’ in
Co.Dublin.^283
Chamaemelum nobile (Linnaeus) Allioni
Anthemis nobilisLinnaeus
chamomile
south-western Europe, north-western Africa, Azores; introduced
into North America, Australasia
Sometimes called ‘Roman chamomile’ or ‘English chamomile’ to distinguish
it from ‘German chamomile’ (Matricaria recutita Linnaeus, which as a field
weed or a crop has stood in for it medicinally in many parts of Europe but has
302 Achillea millefolium