268 WILD FLOWERS. 



preventative of infection from plague. It is es- 

 teemed, though apparently without good reason, in 

 nervous disorders, being for this purpose, made into 

 a conserve. The roots of its sister-plant, the Solo- 

 mon's seal (C.polygonatum, verticilldta, and multi- 

 flora), is useful when applied to bruises, being, 

 according to Gerarde, to be " stamped while it is 

 greene," when it will take away, he tells us, " in 

 one night, or two at most, any bruse, blacke or 

 blewe spotts, gotten by falls, or woman's wilfulnesse 

 in stumbling on their hastie liusbandes fists, or 

 such like !" A conserve is also made by beating 

 up these roots with sugar ; which is astringent and 

 efficacious in cases of spitting of blood. These roots 

 when macerated, yield a farinaceous substance which 

 has, in times of scarcity, been made into an excel- 

 lent bread ; the Turks boil the young shoots in 

 spring, as we do asparagus ; and the leaves of the 

 tribe, infused with lime, give a green dye almost 

 as beautiful as the tender hue of their own semi- 

 transparent leaves. 



Gerarde thus descants on their virtues : " Galen 

 says neither herb nor root is to be given inwardly, 

 but note what experience hath found out, and of 

 late daies, especially among the vulgar sort of people 

 in Hampshire . . . that if any sex or age soever 

 chance to have any bones broken, in what part of 

 their bodies soever, their refuge is to stamp the 

 roots hereof and give it to the patient .... 

 it sodoreth and glues together the bones in a 



very short space, and common 



experience teacheth that in the world there is not 



