214 Stachys
by the Society of Arts for demonstrating the palatability of the roots ofS.
palustris.^71 Hybrids that are more or less sterile tend to compensate for that
with a greater profuseness in their vegetative parts than either parent spe-
cies. Alternatively, or additionally, the plant may have been wanted as a med-
icine, in which case the belief may have been that the compensation for steril-
ity was greater chemical potency.
It was presumably either the hybrid orStachys palustristhat was the ‘all-
heal’ found by Martin Martin^72 in use in Lewis in the Outer Hebrides^150 as an
ingredient in an ointment applied to green wounds. Wounds indeed appear
always to have been the premier function of this herbal trio: the name borne by
them collectively in Welsh translates as ‘woundwort’, it is the one use reported
from the Highlands,^73 while John Gerard in hisHerballcites a case from Kent
that plainly counts as a folk one, too.^74 Inplaces today the plants still continue
tobe prized for their remarkable healing power. The leaves have been used for
poulticing boils and carbuncles in Essex and so bringing them to a head.^75
In Ireland that reputation for curing wounds has similarly persisted here
and there,^76 for example in Wicklow^77 and Galway.^78 The use of the leaves for
dressed sores has also been reported from Westmeath.^79
Ballota nigra Linnaeus
black horehound
Europe, south-western Asia, Morocco, Azores; introduced into
North America, Australasia
In common with many other members of the mint family,Ballota nigra has
had some use for colds, coughs, asthma and chest complaints. Except for
Leicestershire^80 —where, puzzlingly, it was reportedly called ‘lound’s wound-
wort’(surely a corruption, or mishearing, of ‘clown’s woundwort’, John
Gerard’s name for Stachys palustris?)—all the British records come from the
Scottish Lowlands (Berwickshire,^81 Dumfriesshire,^82 Fife^83 ), a distribution
suggesting it has stood in there for some more warmth-demanding, less
‘rough’ alternative, perhaps white horehound (Marrubium vulgare). As B.
nigra does not appear to occur in natural habitats anywhere in the British
Isles except possibly the western Midlands (where it is represented by a dis-
tinct, woollier variety), its history as a folk herb is likely to have been a rela-
tively short one, doubtless as a spill-over from book medicine.
The same remarks appertain to the only two Irish records traced (Lon-
donderry,^84 Cavan^85 ), for the same complaints as in Britain.