ered only country folk had bodies robust enough to stand its strength. Fatal-
ities are even recorded. In one such case, in Wiltshire, it had been mistaken for
the less toxic green hellebore,H. viridis.^15
Helleborus viridis Linnaeus
green hellebore, bear’s-foot
western and central Europe
(Folk credentials questionable) If the very few records
ofHelleborus viridis in folk use rest on correct identi-
fications, it was even more exclusively a veterinary
herb than setterwort,H. foetidus.Thomas Johnson, in
his 1633 edition of Gerard’s Herball,mentions that an
infusion of the leaves was believed to be prophylactic
against smallpox and other contagions, but whether
that extended into the folk repertory is not clear.
Anemone nemorosa Linnaeus
wood anemone
northern temperate zone of Europe and western Asia;
introduced into eastern Canada, New Zealand
Too many misadventures with the toxic Anemone
nemorosa in village medicine^16 appear to have largely
eliminated it from the folk repertory. The only British
record traced is an eighteenth-century one of its use as a blis-
tering plaster in Ross-shire.^17
Irish records are almost as rare: there is an
unlocalised one of its application to wounds as a
plaster,^18 and in the Clare-Galway border district
the leaves were laid on the head to ameliorate a
headache.^19
All these uses echo those of buttercups (Ran-
unculus spp.), reflecting the shared properties of
anemonin.
Ranunculus acris Linnaeus
meadow buttercup (buttercups in general:
crowfoot, eagle’s-foot,fearbán)
arctic and temperate Eurasia, Greenland,
Aleutian Islands; introduced into other
temperate regions
Water-lilies, Buttercups and Poppies 71Ranunculus acris,
meadow buttercup
(Brunfels 1530, p. 123)