GROUND ELDER "DESPISED, UNLOVELY WEED": - HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF GROUND ELDER

GROUND ELDER, (BISHOP’S) GOUTWEED, AEGOPODIUM PODAGRARIA

Ground elder is the modern name for goutweed or Herb Gerard and as its name suggests it was a specific remedy for gout and sciatica, used as such at least since the Middle Ages in Europe. It gets the name ground elder from the resemblance of the flowers to those of the elder tree (Sambucus nigra). It was used as a green vegetable in earlier times, and was used by monks and bishops to counteract the rich food they so often ate.

  It is a member of the Umbelliferaceae or Apiaceae family which includes fennel, dill, sweet Cicely, cow parsley, lovage, carrots, caraway, anise, lesser and greater burnet saxifrage, water fennel or water dropwort, Alexanders and Thapsia. It can grow to heights of two feet and takes over ground very quickly.

  Its genus name comes from the Greek aigos meaning goat and podi meaning foot, perhaps because some thought the leaf looked like a goat’s foot; podagra was Latin for gout.

  It was described by Tabernaemontanus a European herbalist in 1687 as a “despised, unlovely weed” and the English herbalist, John Gerard has this to say about it under the name Herb Gerard (it was named after St. Gerard to whom gout sufferers prayed for deliverance from the ailment):-

“Herbe Gerard groweth of itself in gardens without setting or sowing and is so fruitful in its increase that when it hath once taken roote, it will hardly be gotten out againe, spoiling and getting every yeare more ground, to the annoying of better herbe.”

  However he also sees its virtues and points out:-

“with his roots stamped and laid upon members that are troubled or vexed with gout, swageth the paine, and taketh away the swelling and inflammation thereof, which occasioned the Germans to give it the name of Podagraria, because of his virtues in curing the gout.”

  My father absolutely detested this weed and waged war on it every spring, but even if a tiny part of the rhizome (creeping root) is left in the soil it can regenerate, causing it to be the bane of many gardeners. He didn’t have gout and wasn’t fond of green vegetables, and certainly wouldn’t have considered eating this plant. However the young leaves can be added to a spring salad or cooked and served as a vegetable, as spinach is. You should avoid eating it after it flowers (May-June in Britain) however, as it has a strange taste then and also has a laxative effect.

  The roots and leaves can be boiled together and then placed on parts that have sciatic and rheumatic pains and the poultice, changed every so often, as the leaves cool is said to be very effective. The roots and leaves are taken internally as a diuretic and are also used for their sedative effect.

  Writing in the 17^th century, the English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper had this to say of goutwort: -

  “Government and virtues. Saturn rules it. Neither is it to be supposed Gout-wort hath its name for nothing but upon experiment to heal the gout and sciatica; as also joint-aches, and other cold griefs. The very bearing of it about one eases the pains of the gout, and defends him that bears it from the disease.”

  Modern clinical trials have shown that this weed has antibacterial properties, so even “unlovely” weeds have their medicinal purposes.

MARSH WOUNDWORT- POTENTIAL USE AS VEGETABLE: HISTORY, USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF MARSH WOUNDWORT

MARSH WOUNDWORT, CLOWN’S WOUNDWORT, ALL-HEAL, STACHYS PALUSTRIS

Marsh Woundwort is the more usual name for this plant. Although it has been called All-Heal (in mediaeval times) and Clown’s woundwort, with John Gerard, the 16^th century English herbalist, claiming that he first called it this. It is a member of the Labiatae or Lamaceae (mint) family and so related to the culinary herbs, marjoram, basil, Holy basil, oregano, savory, thyme, lavender, lemon balm, as well as bugle, motherwort, self-heal, catnip, the chaste tree, ground ivy, Jupiter’s sage, wall germander, Fragrant premna and hyssop. It is a close relative of the Chinese artichoke and wood betony.

  It is native to Europe from Scandinavia through to Portugal and to temperate Asia. As its name suggests it likes growing in wet places, in marshes, near streams, in ditches, swamps and fens, although in Poland and Central Europe it is a frequent weed in cereal crops such as wheat, potatoes and sugar beet. It has pinkish-purple flowers which bloom in summer, is very hairy, and can grow to heights of a metre. The seeds ripen between August and October and it is said that these are edible and that the Delaware Indians used them to treat venereal diseases.

  The tubers of this plant are small but edible and it is believed that if the plant were cultivated they would grow bigger, and be a useful food supplement. They were used in Europe prior to the advent of potatoes, and in some countries were eaten as a raw snack up until the 1970s. The young shoots can be cooked and eaten as a substitute for asparagus, but I am not sure if they would taste very good. The tubers can also be dried and ground to make flour for unleavened bread or used in soups.

  In parts of Scotland the tubers were known as ‘swine earth-nut’, (not to be confused with the earth nut or pig nut).Across the Atlantic the Gosiute tribe used the seeds as food, but there are no records that they have been used as such in Europe. The tubers have been used like those of Chenopodium album, white goosefoot,or Good King Henry, in times of scarcity but no one uses these tubers now, although perhaps we should. One study suggests that they have great potential for use as a “local indigenous vegetable” due to their “high oligosaccharide content” which “could make it a pre-biotic food supplement.” (“Marsh woundwort, Stachys palustris L. (Lamiaceae): an overlooked food plant” Lukasz J. Luczaji et al. May 2011)

  There are various records that show that the tubers have been used in times of scarcity as nourishment in Europe until the turn of the 19^th century. However the plant was generally used as a wound healer. It used to be made into an ointment with “Hog’s Grease” and also used with goldenrod and fresh butter for wounds. It has also been used for the treatment of gout, stomach cramps and pains in the joints.

  Nicholas Culpeper writing his herbal in the 17^th century refers to it as clown’s woundwort and has this to say about it:-

“Government and virtues. It is under the dominion of the planet Saturn. It is singularly effectual in all fresh and green wounds, and therefore beareth not this name for nought: And is very available in staunching of blood, to dry up the fluxes of humours in old fretting ulcers, cancers, &c. that hinder the healing of them.

  A syrup made of the juice of it is inferior to none for inward wounds, ruptures of veins, bloody flux, vessels broken, spitting, pissing, or vomiting blood: ruptures are excellently and speedily, even to admiration, cured by taking now and then a little of the syrup, and applying an ointment or plaster of the same to the place; and also, if any vein be swelled or muscle cut, apply a plaister of this herb to it, and, if you add a little comfrey to it, it will not do amiss. I assure you this herb deserves commendation, though it have gotten but a clownish name; and whoever reads this, if he try it as I have done, will commend it as well as me. It is of an earthy nature.”

  The leaves, stems and roots of this plant have been found to have antibacterial properties by a research team from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland (“Antibacterial activity of Stachys palustris” M. Tahir Javed Khan et al. Pakistan Journal of Pharmacy Vols.16-19, (1 &2) 2003-2006.)

  Who knows, perhaps we will be cultivating it again both for its edible tubers and its health benefits!

EUROPEAN OR WHITE WILLOW-ORIGINAL SOURCE OF ASPIRIN: HISTORY AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE WHITE WILLOW

WHITE WILLOW, EUROPEAN WILLOW, SALIX ALBA 

The white willow is native to Europe including Britain and to Asia and some parts of North America, although it has mainly naturalized there, and in Connecticut it is considered an invasive species. There are many hybrids of this willow and others, for example the black or pussy willow, Salix nigra, the purple willow, Salix purpurea and the crack willow, Salix fragilis. It grows close to canals, lakes, in fenland, marshes and damp woodland and has been used for a variety of purposes throughout the centuries.

  The white willow is famous as the original source of salicin used for aspirin, and the story goes that this was discovered by the Reverend Edmund Stone of Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire in 1763, although there are many other claims too.

  Hippocrates (circa 400 BC) recommended willow bark to be chewed to reduce fevers and inflammation, and it has been used in traditional Chinese and European medicine for many centuries. It seems that the effect of the fresh or dried bark takes longer to kick in than aspirin, but the effects last longer.

  Nicholas Culpeper writing in the 17^th century, (before the reverend Stone’s “discovery”)

Has this to say about the medicinal properties of the white willow: -

“Government and virtues. The Moon owns it. Both the leaves, bark, and the seed, are used to stanch bleeding of wounds, and at mouth and nose, spitting of blood, and other fluxes of blood in man or woman, and to stay vomiting, and provocation thereunto, if the decoction of them in wine be drank. It helps also to stay thin, hot, sharp, salt distillations from the head upon the lungs, causing a consumption. The leaves bruised with some pepper, and drank in wine, helps much the wind cholic. The leaves bruised and boiled in wine, and drank, stays the heat of lust in man or woman, and quite extinguishes it, if it be long used. The seed also is of the same effect. Water that is gathered from the Willow, when it flowers, the bark being slit, and a vessel fitting to receive it, is very good for redness and dimness of sight, or films that grow over the eyes, and stay the rheums that fall into them; to provoke urine, being stopped, if it be drank; to clear the face and skin from spots and discolourings. Galen says, the flowers have an admirable faculty in drying up humours, being a medicine without any sharpness or corrosion; you may boil them in white wine, and drink as much as you will, so you drink not yourself drunk. The bark works the same effect, if used in the same manner, and the tree hath always a bark upon it, though not always flowers; the burnt ashes of the bark being mixed with vinegar, takes away warts, corns, and superfluous flesh, being applied to the place. The decoction of the leaves or bark in wine, takes away scurff and dandrif by washing the place with it. It is a fine cool tree, the boughs of which are very convenient to be placed in the chamber of one sick of a fever.”

  This is the wisdom of the 17^th century, but be careful not to overdose on it if you want to retain your libido (just in case)!

  Other compounds apart from salicin have been identified in the bark, including some with antiseptic, immune-boosting, fever reducing and antioxidant properties. Salicin reduces inflammation and eases pain. The effects of the bark therefore may not be simply due to the salicin compound.

  Traditionally the bark of the white willow has been used to treat inflammation associated with gout, and given to asthma and diabetes patients, and for headaches. However conventional medicine practitioners do not agree with these treatments and suggest that it should not be used either for gout or asthma and neither should it be used by people suffering from haemophilia, gastritis, or stomach ulcers, or breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women. It should not be given t children under the age of 16.

  The dosage for adults is 1-2 teaspoons of the dried bark infused in 8 fluid ounces of water for 30 minutes, then strained; 3-4 cups of this can be drunk daily. This is to relieve inflammatory pain and headaches. It may also be used to reduce fevers.

  The decoction of the bark is very bitter and astringent because of the tannin content and may be used for diarrhoea and dysentery as well as to get rid of intestinal worms. The bark is best harvested from branches that are between 3 and 6 years old.

  An infusion of the leaves, which can be collected at any time during the growing season of spring through to early autumn, can be made for a calming effect and nervous insomnia, although it tastes very bitter and needs to be flavoured with honey or sugar.

  The leaves may also be added to hot bath water to ease the symptoms of rheumatism. They can be used fresh or dried.

  The bark sold in Europe is usually a mixture of the purple willow, the crack willow and the white willow.

  The tree is also used to make paper, and a variant is used in Britain to make cricket bats. Other uses include basket making with the young osiers and charcoal making (the charcoal has also been used medicinally). The wood from Salix alba is light but used for small items such as tool handles.

  This is called the white willow because the undersides of its leaves are silvery white, and when the sun shines on them when there is a breeze, the tree has a shimmering silvery sheen. The leaves are edible as are the young shoots but taste very unpleasant, as does the powder made from the inner bark which can be ground to flour and used for making bread in times of scarcity. It is a fast growing tree, but is not very long-lived, mainly because it is susceptible to a variety of pests and diseases.

  It is a beautiful tree, with catkins in spring, and I have always liked this tree as I thought, because of its silvery sheen that it must have been inhabited by faeries.

   

AVENS -"A WHOLESOME, HEALTHFUL HERB": HEALTH BENEFITS AND USES OF AVENS

AVENS, HERB BENNET, COLEWORT, GEUM URBANUM 

Avens or wood avens, Geum urbanum is a close relative of the water avens or Indian chocolate (Geum rivale) and a member of the Rosaceae or rose family, making it a relative of the dog rose. As a member of this family it is a distant relative of apricots, apples, plums, loquats, peaches and the blackthorn tree from which we get sloes. It is closely related to the Potentilla genus, so is related to silverweed and cinquefoil, which its yellow flowers resemble.

  The avens is native to Britain and mainland Europe as well as to Central Asia. Its root when freshly dug has a strong smell of cloves, and this is the reason for its genus name Geum, which basically means something with a fragrant aroma. The name urbanum means of the city, or perhaps sophisticated.

  It was believed that the root was best gathered in Britain on the 25^th of March as long as the soil was not wet. This was the time the root was believed to be at its most pungent. It has been used in medicine as well as in cooking; both in sweets and desserts, and the seeds may be substituted for cloves in an apple tart. The young leaves may be eaten raw in salads or cooked, and the root may be used to flavour soups and stews.

  The root is the part generally used in medicine: ½ ounce of root chopped to one pint of boiling water can be infused and then strained and the liquid drunk cold, or the decoction can be made by boiling the root and reducing the amount of water to ½ a pint. This can be used externally for skin problems, and for vaginal discharge, as an antiseptic and wound healer and internally for stomach problems, to soothe the mucous membranes in bronchitis and coughs, for sore throats and headaches, as a drink to reduce fevers, and as a general spring tonic, which was believed to clear obstructions in the liver and cleanse the blood and body.

  The root contains tannin and so it is useful as an astringent for diarrhoea and dysentery as well as for wound healing.

  Nicholas Culpeper the English herbalist writing in the 17^th century wrote about it in this way: -

“Government and virtues. It is governed by Jupiter, and that gives hopes of a wholesome healthful herb. It is good for the diseases of the chest or breast, for pains, and stiches in the side, and to expel crude and raw humours from the belly and stomach, by the sweet savour and warming quality. It dissolves the inward congealed blood happening by falls or bruises, and the spitting of blood, if the roots, either green or dry, be boiled in wine and drank; as also all manner of inward wounds or outward, if washed or bathed therewith. The decoction also being drank, comforts the heart, and strengtheneth the stomach and a cold brain, and therefore is good in the spring-time to open obstructions of the liver, and helps the wind cholic; it also helps those that have fluxes, or are bursten, or have a rupture; it taketh away spots or marks in the face, being washed therewith. The juice of the fresh root, or powder of the dried root, hath the same effect with the decoction. The root in the spring time steeped in wine, give it delicate savour and taste, and being drank fasting every morning, comforteth the heart, and is a good preservative against the plague, or any other poison. It helpeth digestion, and warmeth a cold stomach, and openeth obstructions of the liver and spleen.”

He concluded his description with this: “It is very safe; you need have no dose prescribed; and is very fit to be kept in every body's house.”

  It was used to flavour Augsburg Ale to impart both its flavour and its health-giving properties, with a sachet of the root being placed in each cask of ale. In the Middle Ages it used to be worn as an amulet to ward off evil spirits and venomous beasts, as it was regarded as a sacred herb, belonging to Saint Benedict, hence the name Herb Bennet (a corruption of Benedict).

  The trefoil leaf of this plant with its golden, five petalled flower was a symbol of the Holy Trinity (trefoil leaf) while the five petals symbolized the five wounds inflicted upon the crucified Jesus. By the end of the 13^th century in Britain, this was a motif used in the architecture of churches and it could be found on walls and columns.

  (Hemlock is also called Herb Bennet and should not be confused with this. Legend has it that a monk gave Saint Benedict a cup of wine poisoned by hemlock, but when Saint Benedict blessed the wine before drinking it, the poison, which was a kind of devil, fled the cup with such force that it shattered, thus exposing the cup-bearing monk’s intent to kill Saint Benedict.)

  So far there is no scientific evidence to support the traditional medicinal uses of avens, or Herb Bennet.