bleaker north of England and surviving there today in one or two meadows,
and meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale), alone accepted as native. The
main English populations of this last species, east of the Severn estuary, have
been raided down the years to supply the druggists, but that it was often used
instead ofCrocus sativus for the saffron cakes eaten in Essex for rheumatism
(imparting a different colour and taste)^51 suggests that it may have enjoyed a
more purely folk following as well. Possibly it was also the source of the saf-
fron tea formerly much given in Norfolk to children to bring out sweating in
fevers or the spots in cases of measles.^52
It was for measles, too, that ‘saffron’ was used in one of only two instances
traced in the Irish folk records (Tipperary^53 ) that are explicitly herbal. In the
other (Carlow^54 ) the plant was boiled in milk and drunk for jaundice. These
two counties fall within the area in which meadow saffron is accepted as
native in Ireland. But that Colchicum autumnale is poisonous even after being
boiled would imply that, if indeed it did have a place in the folk repertory, it
must have been used only with great discretion.
Convallaria majalis Linnaeus
lily-of-the-valley
Europe, north-eastern Asia; introduced into North America
(Folk credentials questionable) No less poisonous than Colchicum autum-
nale,containing glycosides which in small amounts both purge and slow the
heartbeat and in larger ones cause convulsions and even death,Convallaria
majalis has probably always been too scarce in the wild in Britain to be
utilised from that source herbally even if it was not avoided as too dangerous.
Two Irish records (Antrim,^55 Cavan^56 ) of its use for heart trouble must surely
be borrowings from the learned tradition, but binding a leaf on to a cut or
abrasion to ‘draw’ or otherwise heal it (Gloucestershire,^57 Cambridgeshire^58 )
sounds like genuine folk applications even though garden-based.
Polygonatum multiflorum (Linnaeus) Allioni
Solomon’s-seal
Europe, temperate Asia to Japan; introduced into North America
Polygonatum ×hybridum Bruegger
horticultural
In Hampshire, where Polygonatum multiflorum is commoner than anywhere
else in Britain and an indicator of ancient woodland, ‘the vulgar sort of peo-
ple’, according to John Gerard, were in his day in the habit of drinking a
decoction of the powdered root, or applying it as a poultice, to heal broken
326 Colchicum andCrocus