Arum maculatum Linnaeus
lords-and-ladies, cuckoo-pint
Europe, North Africa
Though Arum maculatum,a common plant of hedge bottoms, is danger-
ously poisonous, rich in compounds capable of causing death, the acrid juice
of the berries has been valued as a wart cure in Worcestershire.^10 The acrid-
ity, however, is lost when the fresh root is reduced to powder and in that form
it has constituted a highly rated remedy for rheumatism in Devon.^11 Success
has also been claimed in Somerset for poulticing abscess swellings with (the
leaves of ?) the plant.^12
The sole Irish record traced comes from Wexford, where the powder from
the root placed under the tongue and swallowed with the saliva has been held
to relieve ‘palsy’.^13
Pondweeds, Grasses, Lilies and Orchids 321Arum maculatum, lords-and-ladies (Brunfels 1530, p. 56)