Alnus glutinosa (Linnaeus) Gaertner 3
alder
Europe, western Asia, North Africa; introduced into eastern
North America
Because of the similarity in their names, elder (Sambucus spp.) is apparently
sometimes misrecorded as alder (Alnus glutinosa) by folklore collectors. To
judge from the ailments mentioned in such cases, two of the only four records
have resulted from confusions on this score. No such ambiguity, however, is
attached to one for the Somerset-Dorset border,^54 for in that case it was
explicitly a decoction of the ripe cones that was drunk daily as a cure for gout.
And in a Norfolk instance, too, the informant was quite definite that it was the
leaves of this tree, not that of elder, which were lightly crushed and laid on
burns; the locality in question is in any case one in which alders are plentiful.^55
Corylus avellana Linnaeus
hazel
Europe, Asia Minor; introduced into North America
A tree so widespread and once even much commoner (to judge from the pro-
fusion of its pollen in subfossil peats), and with a semi-sacred status besides,
might have been expected to have given rise to a wide range of medicinal
uses. Only three folk records have been encountered for Corylus avellana,
however, and those all Irish: the ash from a burnt hazel stick was put on burns
in Monaghan,^56 the bark was applied to boils and cuts in Kerry^57 and in that
county also some unspecified part of the tree has formed a treatment for
varicose veins.^58
Aizoaceae
Carpobrotus edulis (Linnaeus) N. E. Brown
Carpobrotus acinaciformis (Linnaeus) L. Bolus
Hottentot-fig
South Africa; introduced into warmer temperate regions
Introduced into gardens from South Africa, species of the genus Carpobrotus
have escaped and become naturalised so plentifully in the far south-west of
Britain that in that relatively brief period they have acquired not only a new
vernacular name locally (‘Sally-me-handsome’, a corruption ofMesembry-
anthemum,the generic name formerly in use) but also earned the right to be
included in this account of the utilising of the wild flora for medicinal pur-
Elms to Docks 89