MADDER TRIBE 111 



as a purifier of the blood. The plant is cut in small pieces, also, and boiled 

 in broth as a spring drink, or it is pounded in a mortar, and the juice taken 

 while fresh. Its outward application has, even in modern days, been advised 

 by eminent surgeons, and its use in this form was once very general ; and, 

 besides being prescribed as a remedy for those " bitten by serpents," it was 

 deemed a certain cure for wounds. An old writer tells us that it was 

 "familiarly taken," in his day, "as a bi^oth, to keep them lank and lean that 

 were apt to grow fat ;" though what particular advantage either to health or 

 beauty was gained by being lank and lean our good herbalist does not specify. 

 The interior of the seeds is somewhat horn}'-, and they form, when roasted, 

 a good substitute for coffee. From some slightly stimulating powers which 

 the beverage made from them is thought to possess, it has been suggested 

 that they contain the principle of caffeine, which renders the Arabian berry 

 so refreshing in its influences. Our Goose-grass is found throughout Europe 

 and North America, as well as in the north of Asia. A tuberous-rooted 

 species of Galium {G. tuberdsum) is cultivated in China as a dietetic vegetable, 

 and the tubers, either ground or cooked whole, are described as forming a 

 wholesome and agreeable dish. 



3. Woodruff (Aspdrula). 



1. Sweet Woodruff (A. odordta). — Leaves from 6 to 8 in a whorl, 

 lanceolate ; fruit bristly ; root perennial. Plentiful as this fragrant plant is 

 in many of our woods, yet in others it is altogether unknown. We have 

 seen it in Kent and Surrey, covering large extents of wooded land, its bright 

 green stems surrounded by coronals of richly verdant leaves, and surmounted 

 in May and June by its beautiful little clusters of blossoms. The small 

 flowers, white, or slightly tinged with pink, seem firm and compact as if cut 

 out of wax. The leaves are deliciously fragrant with the odour of newly- 

 mown hay, but this is scarcely perceptible while the plant is growing. When 

 gathered, the warmth of the hand soon brings forth the aroma, and the dried 

 plant will retain its odour for many years. The name of Woodruff, or, as it 

 was formerly spelt, Wooderoofe, or Woodrowe, is a corruption of Woodrowel, 

 and was given, according to Turner, because "its leaves represent certain 

 rowelles of spoorres." One of the old modes of spelling the word is still 

 commemorated in the country rhyme yet handed down from generation to 

 generation by cottage children : — ■ 



" Double U double double D E, 

 R double U double F E." 



Gerarde observes of this plant, " Woodrooffe hath manie square stalkes 

 full of joynts, and at everie knot or joynt, seven or eight long narrow leaves, 

 set round about like a starre, or the rowelle of a spurre. The flowers growe 

 at the top of the stemmes, of a white colour, and a very sweete smell, as is 

 the rest of the herbe, which being made up into garlandes and bundles, 

 hanging up in houses in the heat of summer, doth very well attemper the 

 aire, coole and make freshe the place, to the delight and comfort of such as 

 are therein. Woodroofie is named of divers Aspergula odorata, of others 

 CordiaUs axid Stellaria ;. in English, Wooderooffe, Woodrowe, and Woodro well. 



