Ivy and Umbellifers 189utilised in Limerick, too, for poulticing boils and abscesses.^109 Someone in
Wicklow who valued it for kidney trouble,^110 though, may have learned of the
diuretic property for which the related A. nodiflorum (Linnaeus) Lagasca
(fool’s water-cress, marshwort) has been exploited in Italy.
The only British records traced are from Devon, where a healer reput-
edly cured bad burns and infected breasts with a decoction of the plant
applied as a plaster,^111 and from Essex, where a tea or decoction of the fruits
or an infusion has been drunk for rheumatism.^112
Petroselinum segetum (Linnaeus) Koch
corn parsley, honewort
western and southern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa, Canary Islands
A maidservant observed c. 1620 by John Goodyer gathering Petroselinum
segetum in a field in Hampshire told him she had learned during her upbring-
ing in the Isle of Wight of its effectiveness in treating a chronic swelling on the
cheek then known as a ‘hone’. A handful of the pounded leaves was put in
half a pint or more of beer, which was then strained and drunk for two weeks
after fasting.^113 This is the only known record.
Ligusticum scoticum Linnaeus
lovage
northern Europe, eastern North America
A speciality of the Western Isles of Scotland,sionnas or shunnis in Gaelic,
Ligusticum scoticum was once much valued there especially for diseases of
cattle and sheep. Eaten raw first thing in the morning, it was also believed to
preserve a person from infection for the rest of the day^114 ; the root was reck-
oned good for flatulence^115 and the plant had a reputation (like celery) as an
aphrodisiac.^116 On Lingay in the Outer Hebrides it was boiled with Alexan-
ders (Smyrnium olusatrum) in a lamb broth and drunk ‘against consump-
tions’.^117 In the Faeroe Islands it had a further use as a sedative,^118 but of that
no Scottish record has been traced.
Angelica sylvestris Linnaeus
wild angelica
Europe, northern and south-western Asia; introduced into Canada
Less rich in active properties than garden angelica (Angelica archangelica Lin-
naeus), the common native counterpart,A. sylvestris,may have served as a
poor man’s stand-in for that. Considering how strongly garden angelica was
recommended in the herbals and official medicine, however, folk records for