Islands as well that the fleshy leaves ofRumex acetosa (common sorrel) have
been eaten to counter scurvy, and only in that same quarter plus the High-
lands, Sligo and Pembrokeshire that the even fleshier Cochlearia officinalis
(scurvy-grass), the more usual weapon in Europe against this sickness, has
apparently been reported in use, too. Again, it is from the Isle of Man, Orkney
and Shetland that a noticeably disproportionate number of the records come
for the taking of a tonic made from Achillea millefolium (yarrow) to lift the
spirits from depression.
Much more resistant to any explanation, cultural or environmental, is
the seeming restriction just to England of a number of remedies obtained
from plants that occur commonly over much of both Britain and Ireland in
the wild. Thus it is only from a wide scatter of English counties, almost all in
the southern half of the country, that the prickly leaves ofIlex aquifolium
(holly) appear to have featured as a painful cure for chilblains. It is also as a
treatment for chilblains and the like that Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet)
has yielded records from England alone. Could it be that the English have
traditionally found it especially hard to bear that particular torment of the
flesh—or is it one to which their climate (or diet?) has made them more than
ordinarily prone? A further geographical oddity is the pattern of the records
that have survived for the wearing of pieces ofPotentilla anserina (silver-
weed) in footwear to prevent or ease sore feet: all are from the eastern stretch
of England between London and Yorkshire. Was this a practice that arose
somewhere within that area and then gradually spread through it over the
years (for the records go back nearly three centuries)? Or was it a once much
more general use that has merely chanced to linger on in just this portion of
its range?
There are other plants that are common in Britain and Ireland alike that
in certain of their medicinal roles appear to have featured in the southern
half of England mainly or even wholly. Among these are Glechoma hederacea
(ground-ivy) as a tonic, species ofRanunculus (buttercups),Prunus spinosa
(blackthorn) and Silene dioica (red campion) as cures for warts,Ve ronica
chamaedrys (germander speedwell) as an eye lotion, species ofPlantago
(plantains) as soothers of stings and species ofSalix (willows) in their
aspirin-like functions. Restriction to southern England is easier to under-
stand in the case ofViscum album (mistletoe), for it is only in parts of there
that this long-valued herb occurs naturally in the British Isles in any quantity;
yet why have the virtues ofCalystegia soldanella (sea bindweed) apparently
remained unappreciated elsewhere, and why should the tradition of using
342 Distribution Patterns