160

8

CHAPTER 9 Legumes, Spurges and Geraniums

Dicotyledonous flowering plants in the orders (and families) Fabales (Faba-
ceae, legumes), Myrtales (Lythraceae, loosestrifes; Thymelaeaceae, mezere-
ons; Onagraceae, willowherbs), Santalales (Viscaceae, mistletoes), Celastrales
(Celastraceae, spindles; Aquifoliaceae, hollies), Euphorbiales (Buxaceae,
boxes; Euphorbiaceae, spurges), Rhamnales (Rhamnaceae, buckthorns),
Linales (Linaceae, flaxes), Polygalales (Polygalaceae, milkworts) and Gera-
niales (Oxalidaceae, wood-sorrels; Geraniaceae, crane’s-bills) are included
in this chapter.

Fabaceae

Anthyllis vulneraria Linnaeus
kidney vetch
Europe, North Africa; introduced into North America, Australasia
(Folk credentials questionable) Despite a reputation throughout Europe as a
vulnerary, the only allegedly folk use traced ofAnthyllis vulneraria has been
in the Highlands, where, under two alternative Gaelic names, it is said to have
been used in the past for cuts and bruises.^1 Caleb Threlkeld observed it being
sold in markets in eighteenth-century Ireland, under the name ‘stench’.^2 This
rarity of records for a species so widespread in the British Isles and locally
quite plentiful makes it likely that it was a borrowing from herbals.

Lotus corniculatus Linnaeus
bird’s-foot-trefoil
Europe, Asia, mountains of North and East Africa; introduced
into North America, Australasia