coughs—in Devon,^171 Gloucestershire^172 and Suffolk^173 —as well as for var-
ious rheumatic complaints in three of the Eastern Counties,^174 the East Rid-
ing of Yorkshire,^175 Cumbria^176 and Montgomeryshire.^177 In the last of these,
though, the ‘backache’ for which use of a poultice of the herb is recorded may
have been a misnomer for kidney pain (as have proved to be the case in some
other instances^178 ): a weak infusion of the dried leaves has long had a place in
folk medicine, too, for chronic disorders of the liver, kidneys and bladder.
Employed (as recommended by Galen) for liver complaints in Norfolk^179
and the Highlands^180 and for jaundice in Norfolk^181 and the Isle of Man,^182 it
has been applied to kidney trouble unambiguously in Pembrokeshire,^183
Worcestershire^184 and Caernarvonshire.^185 But despite John Quincy’s asser-
tion in 1718 that ‘the country people use the herb bruis’d, or its juice, in con-
tusions and fresh wounds’,^186 that use has not been encountered among the
localised folk records and may therefore have become rare or extinct. The
same applies, at least in Britain, to a claim a century later that agrimony was
a favourite application to ulcers ‘in some rural districts’.^187
Ireland has had echoes of those uses for colds and liver complaints (both
in Clare^188 ) and jaundice (in Londonderry^189 ), while the plant’s diuretic effect
has led to its use to treat enuresis in children in Wicklow.^190 In Londonderry
it was also much used at one time in cases of scurvy and sometimes for old
ulcers, too.^191 Hard to understand, though, is a botanist’s report that agri-
mony was popular in Donegal^192 for treating sore eyes, for eyebright (Euphra-
sia officinalis), so generally favoured for that elsewhere, can surely never have
been scarce in that county?
There is evidence that the rarer species, the fragrant agrimony,Agrimonia
procera,may often have been preferred. In the Isle of Man it is the only one
occurring as an obvious relic of herbal use.^193
Sanguisorba minor Scopoli
Poterium sanguisorba Linnaeus
salad burnet
central and southern Europe, Caucasus, North Africa; introduced
into North America, Australasia
(Folk credentials questionable) As the allusion to blood in the scientific name
indicates,Sanguisorba minor had a place in the written tradition as a wound
plant. That only a solitary record of an allegedly folk use for that purpose (in
Sussex^194 ) has been traced makes it look unlikely that this was a genuine
member of that rival repertory.
148 Agrimonia