MEDICINAL PLANTS OF YORKSHIRE. 33 



Mentha piperita ; herb. Brick-Kilns at Dring-houses, near York (naturalized). 

 Peppermint is extensively cultivated here for medicinal purposes. Sto- 

 machic, carminitive. 



Origanum vulgare ; herb. Thorp-Arch Woods. Stomachic errhine. 



Digitalis purpurea ; leaves. Langwith. This stately and elegant plant is 

 very common in some parts of Yorkshire, as at Doncaster, and may be 

 considered as the most important British contribution to the Materia 

 Medica. It is a very powerful medicine, and was first brought into gene- 

 ral notice by Withering, who wrote a small 8vo. work upon it. Sedative, 

 diuretic. 



Cochlearia officinalis ; herb. Hob Moor, near York. Antiscorbutic. 



Cgtisus scoparius ; tops. Middlethorpe, Langwith, &c. Diuretic. 



Lactuca virosa ; leaves. Thorp- Arch. Narcotic. 



Leontodon taraxacum. Meadows and pastures. Root. Diuretic, resolvent, 

 aperient. 



Artemisia absinthium. Near villages, &c. ; not in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of York. It is a fact worthy of notice, that notwithstanding the 

 severity of the weather during the autumn of 1836, the Common Southern- 

 wood ( Artemisia abrotanum) was in full bloom at the end of September 

 and beginning of October, in a small cottage garden at Clifton, near York. 



Tussilago farfara ; leaves. Brick-kilns, Heworth, Hobmoor, &c. This pest 

 to the farmers is not so common in the neighbourhood of York as it is in 

 many places. As yet no means seem to have been adopted or discovered 

 for effectually eradicating it. Demulcent, expectorant. 



Solidago virgaurea ; herb. Thorp- Arch Woods. Vulnerary. 



Inula helenium ; root. Field near Overton Wood. I was so fortunate as to 

 discover this locality in a botanizing excursion, about a year and a half 

 ago ; the habitat is in a place far removed from any dwelling, and appears 

 to be a truly wild one for the plant. Stimulant, diuretic, expectorant. 

 , * Bryonia dioica. Hedges, &c. 



Quercus robur ; bark, astringent and tonic. Hedges. At Overton Wood, 

 Thecla quercus, the Purple Hairstreak, the caterpillar of which feeds 

 upon the Oak, is abundant. 



Humulus lupulus ; narcotic and diuretic. Fulford, &c. The female catkins. 



*Mercurialis perennis. Side of the road beyond Acomb. This plant has 

 occasioned accidents, from its being gathered for Chenopodium Bonus- 

 Henricus, Mercury Goosefoot ; it flowers, however, early in the year 

 while the latter does not till the end of summer; 



Doncaster, March 10, 1837- 



No. 7, Vol. II. f • 



