Scrophularia nodosa Linnaeus
common figwort, rose noble, brown(s)wort;fothrom(Irish)
Europe, temperate western and central Asia, allied species in North
America; introduced into New Zealand
Like great mullein (Verbascum thapsus), the far less conspicuous Scrophu-
laria nodosa,with a rank smell and bitter-tasting leaves (as William Wither-
ing noted), has been outstandingly and preponderantly an Irish herb. Known
in Ireland as ‘queen of herbs’, the consort of the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea),
it was a plant of ancient veneration there, its usual name in Gaelic,fothrom,
being a corruption offaoi trom,‘under elder’: just as mistletoe partook of
the magical properties of the oak by growing on that, so this was believed to
have special power through thriving in the shade of that other sacred tree. Just
like mistletoe, too, it was supposed to lose power if allowed to touch the
ground once picked.
A name borne by any of the figworts in Devon, ‘poor man’s salve’,^103 indi-
cates one way in which these plants, and more speciallyScrophularia nodosa,
were used: the roots, which inS. nodosaare swollen and knobby, were ground
into a powder and mixed with lard to produce an ointment applied to piles
and skin troubles of all kinds. More often, though, the roots or leaves, or some-
times the berries or seeds, were boiled and the liquid drunk—either as the
standard kind of tonic held to clear the blood of impurities, including boils
and rashes (Donegal,^104 Monaghan,^105 Cavan,^106 Co.Dublin,^107 Tipperary^108 ),
or as yet one further cure for bronchial ailments, sore throats, coughs and
consumption (Donegal,^109 Cavan,^110 Meath,^111 Wa t e rford^112 ). In Kilkenny,^113
on the other hand, sore throats were rubbed with the ointment and perhaps
that is also how goitre in Waterford^114 has been treated with the plant.
Alternatively, one of the leaves might be applied as a poultice: to sprains
or other swellings in Donegal,^115 Londonderry^116 and Leitrim^117 (particu-
larly extensively in the latter two), to burns in Leitrim^118 and Mayo,^119 to
wounds and cuts in Mayo^120 and, mixed with moss and herb-Robert, in
Wicklow.^121 For poulticing erysipelas in Donegal, however, it was not a leaf
but the ground-up root that was used as one of several ingredients.^122
Weare not told which part of the plant went into a herbal cocktail drunk
at one time in Ulster for the liver and kidneys,^123 nor which has been
employed in Donegal for liver trouble^124 nor in Cavan for stomach ail-
ments^125 ;nor can we be sure what the ‘pains’ were for which it was valued in
Wa t e r f o r d ‘ l o n g a g o’^126 unless they belonged to that ‘any class of sudden pains’
for which a leaf or a stem was dipped in Easter water in Kilkenny^127 and then
252 Scrophularia nodosa