bones.^59 No later record of that use has been traced; instead, the crushed
roots have been valued mostly for drawing the blackness out of a bruise
(Kent,^60 Gloucestershire,^61 East Anglia,^62 Cumbria^63 ) or for removing suntan,
freckles or spots on the face (Hampshire,^64 Norfolk^65 ). The plant has also
been credited with an astringent property which has won it favour in Sussex
as an application to wounds^66 and in Cumbria, under the name ‘vagabond’s
friend’, to sores.^67
Away from south-eastern and south-central England and
southern Wales,Polygonatum multiflorum is regarded
as probably only a naturalised introduction, a
status which is shared more generally by the
Solomon’s-seal more often grown in gardens,
P.×hybridum.Those uses in Cumbria are thus
likely to have been based on plants imported
from farther south or derived from books.
That same explanation must hold,
too, forthe only record traced from
Ireland: a one-time popularity in ‘Ulster’
of a decoction of this herb for staunching
haemorrhages and diarrhoea.^68 No spe-
cies of this genus are accepted as other
than introduced in that region of the
country.
Paris quadrifolia Linnaeus
herb Paris
Europe, Siberia
(Folk credentials questionable) An important herb in tradi-
tional medicine in Asia and recommended in later European
herbals,Paris quadrifolia would surely have
been too scarce in English woods to have
sustained any use here
based on native popula-
tions. A claim that it has
been applied in Sussex^69
to wounds is credible
only if knowledge of its
healing potential was taken
from books.
Pondweeds, Grasses, Lilies and Orchids 327Polygonatum multiflorum, Solomon’s-seal
(Fuchs 1543, fig. 332)