Fontinalis antipyretica Hedwig
willow moss
disjunct circumpolar
Apart from a record of ‘river moss’ (presumably the aquatic species Fonti-
nalis antipyretica,which can grow in dense bunches) from Limerick, used
there to staunch bleeding,^4 Sphagnum is the only kind of moss which seems
to have been separately distinguished in folk medicine. The abundant
remains ofS. palustre Linnaeus accompanying a skeleton in a Bronze Age
grave in Fife have been interpreted as packing for a wound,^5 but that may be
fanciful; certainly, though, the absorbency of bog-moss has been widely val-
ued in the Highlands for such purposes as menstrual bleeding and as a fore-
runner of the disposable nappy.^6 Fomentations of warm water in which this
moss has been simmered have also been popular there as a rub for sore feet,
while in Somerset a treatment for sore eyes has been to bathe them with sea-
water and dry them with it.^7
In Ireland the mildly antiseptic property ofSphagnum has been well
appreciated: the moss has either been simply left on wounds or sores after
first being washed, as in Westmeath,^8 or clay has been plastered over it as an
added protection, as in Devon.^9 In Offaly^10 and at least one other part of Ire-
land^11 a treatment for a sprain has been to pack this plant tightly round the
limb affected, in Limerick^12 a dressing with it is one accepted answer to a
rash, and in that county^13 and Louth^14 it has also been applied to burns.
In one or two other cases a habitat detail with a record of ‘moss’ in the
collective sense may allow the species most probably involved to be surmised.
Thus in Norfolk a kind used for insect bites and stings has been taken from
the tiles on roofs,^15 and a popular home remedy for a nosebleed in parts of
Ireland has been to sniff up moss (or lichen?) collected off tree-trunks and
dried.^16 But it is anyone’s guess which kind has been used for staunching
bleeding in records from a wide spread of Irish counties (most, if not all,
Sphagnum again?), or for easing a pain in the leg in Limerick,^17 or for the
decoction applied to boils that fail to respond to other treatment, which at
least one Londoner has found successful on following the advice of ‘an old
man’.^18
40 Fontinalis antipyretica