The reputation of the diuretic action ofRuscus aculeatus,and its consequent
recommendation for kidney and urinary complaints, can be traced back
through the herbals to Dioscorides. That would be reason enough to suspect
the few instances in which this species has been traced in the folk medicine
records represent no more than borrowings from the learned tradition.
Heightening that suspicion is the fact that, with only one exception, none of
those records comes from areas where the plant is accepted as native. The
exception is Devon, where an infusion was made from the leaves and stems,
which were chopped and dried. This potion was drunk for jaundice as well.^108
It contrasts with the Classical recommendation of a decoction of the rhi-
zomes and may therefore be of genuinely folk origin. That the plant’s use in
the county may go back a long way is perhaps given added credence by the
fact that the its prickly leaves have also stood in there for those of holly as a
painful means of healing chilblains.^109 On the other hand, the seeming lack
of records from anywhere farther east in England, especially from Hamp-
shire, where the plant is locally common in woods and hedgerows, does not
help that case.
It is damning, moreover, that all the other folk records are from Ireland.
That those should be relatively widespread in a country in which the species
is not considered native has a parallel in the case of barberry (Berberis vul-
garis). The standard use as a diuretic is known from Cavan^110 and Galway,^111
and there is a third, unlocalised record for that as well.^112 In Down,on the
other hand, the preparation has been applied as a poultice in cases of
dropsy.^113
Iridaceae
In addition to Iris the family Iridaceae includes Crocus,but records for that
genus are given under the discussion ofColchicum autumnale,included above
under Liliaceae.
Iris pseudacorus Linnaeus
yellow iris, yellow flag, flagger;feileastram(Ireland)
Europe, western Asia, North Africa; introduced into North America,
Australasia
The highly acrid rhizomes ofIris pseudacorus are strongly purgative and were
in use c. 1700 in Skye for enemas.^114 A more prevalent use for the plant in
northern Scotland, however, has been for colds,^115 throat inflammations^116
and, in particular, toothache. As originally reported by the Rev. John Stuart
from Mull and certain parts of the Highlands, a teaspoonful of the juice was
Pondweeds, Grasses, Lilies and Orchids 331