32 
MEDICINAL PLANTS OF YORKSHIRE, 
Linum usitatissimum; seeds^ oil of, emollient. Langvvith, naturalized; 
where it has probably been cultivated, as in other places about York. 
Linum cartkarticum ; herb. Dry pastures, &c. Purgative. 
Acorus calamus; root. Fish-ponds at Heslington; probably, however, 
planted there. Aromatic. 
Rumex hydrolapathum. Askham Bogs. Here this noble Dock attains se¬ 
veral feet in height, and its leaves are sometimes two feet or more in 
length. The root is employed medicinally, as an astringent, prepar¬ 
ations of iron showing it to contain a certain quantity of tannin. 
Rumex acetosa; leaves, Pastures, &c. In the meadows near the Mount, 
York, there are, in Summer, great quantities of the Green Forester 
(Ino statices) sporting about, and settling on the tops of the long 
grass, the larvae of which feed upon the Sorrel growing there. This 
insect is found, too, at Overton Wood. Refrigerant. 
Colchicum autumnale ; bulb and seeds. Clifton, Middlethorpe, and Fulford 
Ings, abundant. This beautiful, and in Yorkshire by no means very- 
uncommon plant, has of late years obtained great celebrity as a re¬ 
medy for rheumatism, and is believed to have been a principal ingre¬ 
dient in the famous Eau Medicinale, Narcotic, diuretic, cathartic. 
Polygonum bistorta; rooti Clifton and Fulford Ings. In Clifton Ings 
this plant often attains the height of between two and three feet, aU^ 
though it is much smaller in the last mentioned locality. PowerfuUy 
astringent; tonic. 
* Paris quadrifolia. Langwith. I have gathered this plant at Thorp-Arch 
Woods, and in two woods near Doncaster. It is not uncommon in York¬ 
shire, and its numerous varieties do not seem to have been much noticed 
by authors. In my Herbarium are specimens with five aiid six leaves 
in the whorl; one with only three petals and calyx leaves, and five 
stamina. The variety with five leaves is far from being rare at the 
Doncaster localities. 
Oxalis acetosella ; leaves, refrigerant. Overton Wood, Langwith, &c. 
Lythrum salicaria; root, astringent, tonic. Knavesmire Wood, Heslington. 
Rosa canina. Hedges, &c. Pulp, cooling. 
Tormentilla officinalis; root. Dry pastures and heathy places, frequent. 
Astringent. 
Geumurhanum; root, febrifuge, tonic. Hedge-banks, Clifton, &c.j near York. 
Papaver rhceas; petals. Corn fields. Slightly anodyne. 
^ Qhelidonium majus. Near the Bar walls, Clifton, &c. 
Ranunculus acris; root, rubefacient, epispatic. This and the other poi¬ 
sonous species of the genus, viz. R. jlammula^ *R‘ bulbosus, *1?. arrensis^ 
and sceleratus, are all found, in their usual habitats, near York. 
