168 Euonymus europaeus
in children. Though mentioned by several other earlier writers, a record from
Cumbria^106 is the only localised one that has been encountered in the folk
literature.
A tea made from the bark has been a jaundice remedy in Essex,^107 but
that sounds suspiciously like a carry-over from learned medicine, in which
the plant has had a reputation for curing liver ailments.
Aquifoliaceae
Ilex aquifolium Linnaeus
holly
western and central Europe; introduced into North America,
New Zealand
Though the tree Ilex aquifolium is common over much of the British Isles, its
recorded use in folk medicine is very largely confined to central and southern
England, and to one affliction mainly: chilblains. By beating those with a
sprig of holly till they bled, it was believed that the circulation was improved
(or, as an Oxfordshire theory had it, it let the chilled blood out).^108 For the
same reason that was the way to relieve arthritis or rheumatism, people main-
tained in Somerset.^109 But if the rationale of applying a counter-irritant was
considered to dictate too painful a procedure, chilblains could equally well be
treated with an ointment made from mixing lard with the powdered berries
(Wiltshire,^110 Essex^111 ), or rheumatism relieved with an infusion of the leaves
(in Devon).^112 A whooping-cough cure in Hampshire involved drinking new
milk out of a cup made from the wood of the variegated variety of the tree.^113
The Irish peasantry disregarded chilblains, it would seem. Instead, holly
leaves were applied to burns in Meath,^114 and a stiff neck cured in Water-
ford^115 by beating it with a sprig from the tree.
Buxaceae
Buxus sempervirens Linnaeus
box
southern Europe, North Africa; introduced into North America
and elsewhere
(Folk credentials questionable) It has become accepted in more recent years
that boxwoods on steep chalk or limestone slopes here and there in southern
England today are native and not the product of ancient introduction, as for-
merly assumed. Potentially, therefore, they could have served as a source for