grangore or glengore,which, being Scots for syphilis, may imply a one-time
venereal reputation.^106
Lychnis flos-cuculi Linnaeus
ragged-robin
Europe, western Asia; introduced into North America, New Zealand
(Error suspected) As ragged-robin is also one of the vernacular names of red
campion (Silene dioica), which is associated with snakes in western Wales
folk beliefs to the extent that it bears a name,blodwyn neidr,‘snake flower’ in
Welsh,^107 the solitary record ofLychnis flos-cuculi in the folk medicine liter-
ature, an ointment made from it used for snakebites in Cardiganshire,^108 may
probably safely be presumed to belong to that.
Agrostemma githago Linnaeus
corncockle
most temperate regions worldwide
(Error suspected) Two Wicklow records^109 ofAgrostemma githago are surely
misattributions of ‘cockle’, a common alternative name of burdock (Arctium).
The species does not appear to have had a place in folk medicine in the British
Isles.
Silene otites (Linnaeus) Wibel
Spanish catchfly
southern and central Europe, western Asia
(Error involved) John Ray, in hisHistoria Plantarumin 1695 (i, 1895), was
misled (through being sent a specimen of the wrong plant) into identifying as
Silene otitesaherb known on Newmarket Heath in Suffolk as ‘star of the earth’
and renowned there at that period for curing the bites of mad dogs, as reported
tohim by Hans Sloane in 1687.^110 It was later shown conclusively that the plant
with this reputation was in fact buck’s-horn plantain (Plantago coronopus).^111
Silene dioica (Linnaeus) Clairville
Lychnis dioica Linnaeus
red campion
Europe, western Asia, North Africa; introduced into North
America, Australasia
Despite its general distribution throughout much of the British Isles, the only
certain records traced ofSilene dioica in folk medicine are exclusively south-
ern English: the corrosive juice has been used for warts in Sussex,^112 for corns
in Gloucestershire^113 and for both of those purposes in Somerset.^114 An oint-
Elms to Docks 93