HERBS 



49 



grayish-light-green leaves, all with a 

 sweet, anise smell; tiny yellow flowers 

 -in compound, flat umbels on long stems. 

 Parkinson, in 16 40, writes: "Oil 

 from seed sweetens breath, helps sleep, 

 good for head and stomach consumption. 

 Decoction with figs and licorice for 

 coughs; boiled in wine, will help ob- 

 structions of liver; oil taken in broth 

 helps dizziness. Plant, either green 

 or dry, beaten and laid on eyes, will 

 draw out bits and likewise take away 

 hurt from (bites of) venomous crea- 

 tures. Having infused bruised seed in 

 wine 24 hours, then pressed and distilled, the residue in bottom 

 will be like honey and can be kept for future use. " 



Curtin, in his Healing Herbs of the Rio Grande, says: "The 

 cavaliers of 16th Century England believed that the seed, bound in 

 a little bag or handkerchief and kept to the nose to smell, helps 

 men from dreaming and starting in their sleep, and causes them 

 to rest well. " The Mission Fathers would sprinkle the floors with 

 water in which the leaves were crushed to make the floors smell 

 sweet. Indians used seeds for digestive troubles and gathered the 

 young shoots to use as a pot herb. Tea from the roots were used 

 for colds and the leaves were chewed for a physic. 



H-36, COW PARSNIP, 



WHITE" 



Heracleum lanatum. 



3-10' )l 



Grass 

 Cult. 



Calif. 



high herb; stout and coarse, 

 with large leaves (up to 12" 

 across), divided into 3 

 parts, hairy underneath, .^ n 



sawtooth edged; white flow- LEAF / ) 

 ers in umbrella-shaped, SHEATH 



compound umbels. 



Tender leaves and flow- 

 er stalks are sweet, used 

 by Indians for green food 

 before flowers appear. The 

 lower part of the plant was 

 a salt substitute. Indians 



Str. Wd. 

 CCF 

 XXMCF 



Most States 

 W. Can. 



