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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
180
The
leaves
of
the
wood-sorrel
(Oxalis
acetosella)
were
believed
to
preserve
the
heart
from
many
diseases,
from
their
being
"broad
at
the
ends,
cut
in
the
middle,
and
sharp
towards
the
stalk."
Similarly
the
heart-trefoil,
or
clover
(Medicago
maculata),
was
so
called,
because,
says
Coles
in
his
"Art
of
Simpling,"
"not
only
is
the
leaf
triangular
like
the
heart
of
a
man,
but
also
because
each
leaf
contains
the
perfect
image
of
an
heart,
and
that
in
its
proper
colour--a
flesh
colour.
It
defendeth
the
heart
against
the
noisome
vapour
of
the
spleen."
Another
plant
which,
on
the
same
principle,
was
reckoned
as
a
curative
for
heart-disease,
is
the
heart's-ease,
a
term
meaning
a
cordial,
as
in
Sir
Walter
Scott's
"Antiquary"
(chap,
xi.),
"try
a
dram
to
be
eilding
and
claise,
and
a
supper
and
heart's-ease
into
the
bargain."
The
knot-grass
(Polygonum
aviculare),
with
its
reddish-white
flowers
and
trailing
pointed
stems,
was
probably
so
called
"from
some
unrecorded
character
by
the
doctrine
of
signatures,"
Suggests
Mr.
Ellacombe,
[19]
that
it
would
stop
the
growth
of
children.
Thus
Shakespeare,
in
his
"Midsummer
Night's
Dream"
(Act
iii.
sc.
2),
alludes
to
it
as
the
"hindering
knot-grass,"
and
in
Beaumont
and
Fletcher's
"Coxcomb"
(Act
ii.
sc.
2)
it
is
further
mentioned:--
"We
want
a
boy
extremely
for
this
function,
Kept
under
for
a
year
with
milk
and
knot-grass."
According
to
Crollius,
the
woody
scales
of
which
the
cones
of
the
pine-tree
are
composed
"resemble
the
fore-teeth;"
hence
pine-leaves
boiled
in
vinegar
were
used
as
a
garlic
for
the
relief
of
toothache.
White-coral,
from
its
resemblance
to
the
teeth,
was
also
in
requisition,
because
"it
keepeth
children
to
heed
their
teeth,
their
gums
being
rubbed
therewith."
For
improving
the
complexion,
an
ointment
made
of
cowslip-flowers
was
once
recommended,
because,
as
an
old
writer
observes,
it
"taketh
away
the
spots
and
wrinkles
of
the
skin,
and
adds
beauty
exceedingly."
Mr.
Burgess,
in
his
handy
little
volume
on
"English
Wild
Flowers"
(1868,
47),
referring
to
the
cowslip,
says,
"the
village
damsels
use
it
as
a
cosmetic,
and
we
know
it
adds
to
the
beauty
of
the
complexion
of
the
town-immured
lassie
when
she
searches
for
and
gathers
it
herself
in
the
early
spring
morning."
Some
of
the
old
herbalists
speak
of
moss
gathered
from
a
skull
as
useful
for
disorders
of
the
head,
and
hence
it
was
gathered
and
preserved.
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