Helluva great plant

AT times I mourn the loss of garden stories and traditions.

Since modern medicine took us, mostly beyond the reach of herbal remedies, no one much bothers anymore with the history of plants. I am concerned therefore that most, if not all, the ancient oral associations will be lost; the stories that have gathered around plants from one generation to the next, and more importantly, their uses in homeopathic medicine. I feel it is imperative to know something of the history of what we grow, at least as a courtesy. So let me redress the situation now and tell you something of the extraordinary uses that garden plants were put to long, long ago.

I’m in favour of, and depend on, the use of modern medicine but was there really any harm in adding a few fresh leaves of wild garlic (Allium ursinum) to a salad in order to help digestive problems, rheumatism, high blood pressure and asthma? Or using Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba) in homeopathy to treat skin rashes, swollen glands, rheumatism, and male sexual disorders? During the Middle Ages if cattle fell sick, farmers used to bore a hole through the animal’s ear and insert a piece of Hellebore root. The practice was still popular in the 17th century as evidenced in herbalist John Gerard’s writings: ‘A purgation of Hellebore is good for mad and furious men, for dull and heavie persons, and briefly, for all those that are troubled with black choler and molested with melancholy’. I study these lines with a mixture of awe and terror.!