Herbal Encyclopedia - S

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#9999FF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f76ba3.gif"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#99CCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04076bc1egdyqn.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Wicca</B></FONT><B>   |   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wicca"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Before You Cast"><U>Before You Cast</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Banishing Spells"><U>Banishing Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bath Spells"><U>Bath Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Blessing Spells"><U>Blessing Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breaking Spells"><U>Breaking Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Candle Spells"><U>Candle Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cleansing Spells"><U>Cleansing Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dream Spells"><U>Dream Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Emotion Spells"><U>Emotion Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Employment Spells"><U>Employment Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Energy Spells"><U>Energy Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fertility Spells"><U>Fertility Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Friendship Spells"><U>Friendship Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Invisibility/Levitation Spells"><U>Invisibility/Levitation Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Glamour Spells"><U>Glamour Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Habit Spells"><U>Habit Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Healing Spells"><U>Healing Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herb Spells"><U>Herb Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="House Spells"><U>House Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Incense Spells"><U>Incense Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jar/Bottle Spells"><U>Jar/Bottle Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Justice Spells"><U>Justice Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lost Thing Spells"><U>Lost Thing Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Love Spells"><U>Love Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id83.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Love Leave Spells"><U>Love Leave Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Luck Spells"><U>Luck Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Money Spells"><U>Money Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moon Spells"><U>Moon Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Object Spells"><U>Object Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oil/Ointment Spells"><U>Oil/Ointment Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id89.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peace Spells"><U>Peace Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id90.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Poppet Spells"><U>Poppet Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id91.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Potion Spells"><U>Potion Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id92.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Protection Spells"><U>Protection Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reverse Spells"><U>Reverse Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id94.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spirit Spells"><U>Spirit Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id95.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stone/Gem Spells"><U>Stone/Gem Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id96.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Strength Spells"><U>Strength Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id97.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tool Spells"><U>Tool Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Truth Spells"><U>Truth Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Weather Spells"><U>Weather Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id100.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wish Spells"><U>Wish Spells</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia A"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - A</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id102.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia B"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - B</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia C"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - C</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia D"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - D</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia E"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - E</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id106.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia F"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - F</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia G"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - G</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia H"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - H</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia I"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - I</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia J"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - J</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia K"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - K</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia L"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - L</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia M"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - M</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia N"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - N</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia O"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - O</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia P"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - P</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia Q"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - Q</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia R"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - R</U></A>   |   <B>Herbal Encyclopedia - S</B>   |   <A HREF="id120.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia T"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - T</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id121.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia U"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - U</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id122.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia V"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - V</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id123.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia W"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - W</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia X"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - X</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia Y"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - Y</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id126.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Encyclopedia Z"><U>Herbal Encyclopedia - Z</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id127.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Herbal Crafts"><U>Herbal Crafts</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=390 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#99CCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04076ba3.gif"> <div> Herbal Encyclopedia - S</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="http://www.thehungersite.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thehungersite.com"><U><IMG SRC="0c55f1c0.gif" border=0 width="95" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> Get a good dose of good karma. Save a life. Click a button.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="0fad4e50.gif" border=0 width="212" height="229" ALT="Bitmap Image" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Herbs & Oils</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>~ S ~</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>SAFFRON</U></B>:<I>(Crocus sativus)</I> The stigmas and style tops flavor and color liqueurs and many dishes, especially rice. Saffron is considered an aphrodisiac, but too much may be narcotic. It is given to reduce fevers, cramps, and enlarged livers, and to calm nerves, and is applies externally for bruises, rheumatism, and neuralgia. In India saffron is used ceremonially. Although water soluble, it is used cosmetically and as a sacred dye. Turmeric is mistakenly called saffron in Asia.</div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: Stamens</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses: </U></I>Saffron is added to love sachets as well as though aimed at raising lustful feelings. It is used in healing spells, and the infusion is used as wash water for the hands prior to healing rituals. Sheets were rinsed with a saffron infusion in Ireland so that the arms and legs would be strengthened during sleep, and the ancient Persians used Saffron to raise the wind. Use in spells for: Happiness; Health/Healing; Lust; Psychic Awareness; Wing Raising; Strength. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>SAGE</U></B>: <I>(Salvia officinalis)</I> Sage leaf has a strong taste that increases when dried. Used sparingly to flavor and aid the digestion of fatty meats, it is popular in poultry stuffing and combines well with strongly flavored floors. The flowers are tossed in salads and are brewed for a light, balsamic tea, while the leaf tea is an antiseptic nerve and blood tonics. Sage contains hormone precursors that help irregular menstruation and menopause symptoms.</div> <div> Sage is a drying agent for the body. The tea of the leaf will dry up night sweats, breast milk, and mucous congestion. It benefits the nerves and the menstrual cycle as well. Being astringent, it helps with diarrhea. Use it as a sore throat gargle and as a poultice for sores and stings. Use two teaspoons of the herb per cup of water, steep for twenty minutes and take a quarter cup four times a day. Tincture; fifteen to forty drops, up to four times a day. </div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: Leaf</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses:</U></I> Sage absorbs negativity and misfortune. It drives away disturbances and tensions, and lifts the spirits above the mundane cars of life. Burn it to consecrate a ritual space. Carry it as an herb of protecion. Use it in the ritual bath and chalice. Tradition holds that those who eat sage become immortal in both wisdom and years. Sage is used in wish manifestations and to attract money. Smolder to promote healing and spirituality. Carry to promote wisdom. Use in spells for: Protection; Wisdom; Health; Money and Riches; Spirituality. </div> <div> ~spiritual_magick/clary.gif"</div> <div> <I><U>Aromatherapy Uses:</U></I> (Clary Sage <I>Salvia sclarea</I>) Acne; Boils; Dandruff; Hair Loss; Inflamed Skin Conditions; Oily Skin and Hair; Ulcers; Wrinkles; High Blood Pressure; Muscular Aches and Pains; Asthma; Throat Infections; Whooping Cough; Colic; Cramps; Dyspepsia; Flatulence; Labor Pain; Irregular Menstruation; Depression; Frigidity; Impotence; Migraine; Nervous Tension; Stress Related Conditions. Key Qualities: Relaxing; Rejuvenating; Balancing; Inspiring; sedative; Revitalizing; Aphrodisiac; Intoxicating; Euphoric; Warming. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>ST. JOHN'S WORT</U></B><B>:</B> (Hypericum perforatum) A Druid sacred herb, the Celts passed it through the smoke of the Summer Solstice fire, then wore it in battle for invincibility. This herb has woody-based stems, with pairs of small, balsamic-scented leaves and clusters of lemon-scented, yellow summer flowers. The leaves are used in salads and to flavor liqueurs. Extract of the flowering tops is antiviral, astringent, and sedative; it treats inflammation, wounds, and diarrhea. Taken internally, it calms nerves and treats depression. It is under research for AIDS treatment. The flowers yield yellow and red dyes.</div> <div> The herb is teh part used for lung problems, bladder complaints, diarrhea, dysentery, depression, hemorrhages, and jaundice. Steep two teaspoons of the herb per cup of water for twenty minutes. Take one-half cup in the morning and one-half cup at bed time. Bedwetting is helped by a nightly cup of the tea. The oil and fomentation are applied externally the injuries, especially when nerve endings are involved (i.e. fingers and toes) and to soften tumors and caked breasts. </div> <div> To make the oil, cover the flowers with good cold-pressed olive oil and leave the sealedc preparation in the hot sun for twenty-one days or until it becomes a rich red. The oil is excellent for massages, as it affects the spine directly. Varicose veins, mild burns, inflammations, neuralgia, and rheumatism are helped by a poultice of it. </div> <div> <B>CAUTION:</B> <I>Malignant tumors must be treated with care. Never rub or massage a malignant growth, as cells may become detached and travel to other parts of the body.</I></div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: Flower, leaf, and stem</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses: </U></I>The Welsh called this plant "leaf of the blessed." It was understood to be an idea combination of water and fire, the ultimate healing essence. Fire symbolized the fruitful light-filled forces of summer, and water the gathering and settling forces of the dark season. Midsummer was the time of balance between these forces of light and dark. Burn at Litha to send away negativity, wear for invincibility, health and willpower. Gather at Litha or on a Friday and worn it will keep mental illness at bay and also cure melancholy. When placed in a jar and hung by a window, St. John's Wrote protects against thunderbolts, fire and evil spirits. Both flowers and leaves are used for this purpose.</div> <div> At one time St. John's Wort was held to the mouth of accused Witches to attempt to force them to confess. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>SANDALWOOD</U></B>: (Santalum album) Sandalwood is one of the most valuable woods in the world. All parts yields Sandalwood oil, particularly the heartwood and the roots, which yield about 6 percent essential oil. Recorded in Ayuvedic medicine and Egyptian embalming, the oil is now used as an inhalant for its expectorant and sedative effect on coughs and as a powerful antiseptic for lung and urinary tract infections. Sandalwood makes a popular incense, as its calming effect aids meditation. It is commonly used for funeral pyres in India, where devotees believe the scent protects places from evil spirits.</div> <div> The fragrant heartwood is a classic for bladder infections. It is taken to help in the passing of stones, in kidney inflammations, and in prostatitis. The oil is cooling to the body and useful for fevers and infections when used as a massage. The scent is calming to the mind. Sandalwood has been used intermally for chronic bronchitis and to treat gonorrhea and the urethral discharge that results. Simmer one teaspoon of the wood per cup of water for twenty minutes, and take up to two cups a day in quarter-cup doses.</div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: Heartwood</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses: </U></I>Lower grades of Sandalwood (light colored with little scent) are not recommended to use in magic. Sandalwood powder is burned during protection, healing and exorcism spells. When mixed with lavender it makes an incense designed to conjure spirits. This fragrant wood possesses very high spiritual vibrations and is mixed with Frankincense and burned at seances and Full Moon rituals. Powdered sandalwood can be scattered about a place to clear it of negativity. Sandalwood beads are protective and promote a spiritual awareness when worn. Sandalwood oil placed on the forehead aids in focusing the mind. The scent opens the highest spiritual centers and so makes an appropriate incense for rituals, exorcisms, and healings. The scents of frankincense and sandalwood have some of the highest vibrations inherent in any plant. They will resonate with aspects of ourselves or with Devic/Angelic beings of the highest order. Rose is another herb held to have that frequency, thus attracting or eliciting the highest spiritual vibrations from within ourselves and the cosmos. Sandalwood is used as an incense base for: Protection; Healing; Exorcise; Spirituality; Wishes; Full Moon Esbats; Wards Negativity; Astral Projection; Reincarnation; Spirit Offering. </div> <div> <I><U>Aromatherapy Uses: </U></I>Acne; Dry, Cracked, Chapped Skin; After Shave; Greasy Skin; Moisturizer; Bronchitis; Catarrh; Coughs (dry, persistent); Laryngitis; Sore Throat; Diarrhea; Nausea; Cystitis; Depression; Insomnia; Nervous Tension; Stress Related Conditions. Key Qualities: Aphrodisiac, Soothing; Relaxing; Uplifting; Purifying; Warming; Grounding; Opening; Elevating; Sedative. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>SPEARMINT</U></B>: (<I>Mentha spicata</I>) Also called Garden Mint, Our Lady's Mint, Sage of Bethlehem, Erba Santa Maria and Lamb Mint. Spearmint is the most generally cultivated of the culinary mints. The leaves are almost or completely stalkless, lance-shaped bright-green and hairless. Mice hate the smell of mint and will avoid any place where the herb is scattered.</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses:</U></I> Spearmint is used in all healing applications, especially in aiding lung diseases. Smelled, spearmint increases and sharpens mental powers. For protection while asleep, stuff a pillow or mattress with spearmint.</div> <div> <I><U>Aromatherapy Uses:</U></I> See Mint </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>STAR ANISE:</U></B> (<I>Illicium verum</I>) All parts of this small, evergreen tree are aromatic; the smooth, gray-white bark, narrow to elliptic shiney green leaves; solitary yellow flowers; and glossy brown seeds. The distinctive seeds and pods sre used as a spice in Asian cookery, notably as an ingredient of Chinese five-spice powder. The fruits and foliage yield an essential oil, used as a substitute anise seed flavoring, or, medicinally to relieve chest complaints, rheumatism, and flatulence. The oil appears in soaps, hair oils, and Asian perfumes.</div> <div> Chew the seeds after a meal to help the digestion. Simmer the seeds to make a tea for colic and rheumatic complaints. Steep one teaspoon of the crushed seed in one cup of boiled water for twenty minutes and take up to two cups a day. Often added to other brews to improve taste, the tea of the seed will help cramps and nausea, promote menstruation, and increase breast milk. It also relieves insomnia. The seeds are simmered into salves for scabies and lice. The oil is a stomach tonic. The seeds can be tinctured in brandy (rather than the usual vodka, whiskey, or grain alcohol) with some lemon peel; the dose is one-fourth to one-half teaspoon.</div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: Seed</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses: </U></I>The powdered bark is used as an incense in Japanese temples. The tree is planted by the Japanese around temples and on graves as an herb of consecration and protection. The seeds are burned as incense to increase psychic powers, and are also worn as beads for the same purpose. Sometimes star anise is placed on the altar to give it power; one is placed to each of the four directions. It is also carried as a general luck-bringer, and the seeds make excellent pendulums. The tree is often grown near Buddist temples where it is revered. </div> <div> <I><U>Aromatherapy Uses: </U></I>Couldn't find any reference to it's use in Aromatherapy, though it is widely used in homeopathy. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>SUNFLOWER:</U></B> (<I>Helianthus annuus</I>) This fast-growing annual has a thik, tall, hairy stem, heart-shaped leaves, and large yellow flower heads in late summer. The nutritious seeds are eaten raw, roasted, and ground into meal or nut butter and were used by Native American warriors as "energy cakes." The flower buds give a yellow dye and are cooked like artichokes. The pressed seeds yield an all-purpose oil with culinary, cosmetic, and industrial uses. Medicinally, the seeds are used as a diuretic and expectorant and treat coughs, dysentery, and kidney inflammation. The root is a laxative and treats stomach pan. The stem pith yields potash and fibers for textiles and paper, and its cellular lightness is used for microscope slide mounts. The seed heads provide food for birds in winter.</div> <div> <I><U>Parts Used</U></I>: flower, leaves, stalk, root and seeds</div> <div> <I><U>Magical Uses: </U></I>In Aztec temples of the sun, priestesses carried sunflowers and wore them as crowns. As sun sumbols, these flowers symbolize the healthy ego, the wisdom, and the fertility of the solar logos. Sunflower seeds are eaten by women who wish to concieve. To protect yourself against smallpox wear sunflower seeds around the neck, either in a bag or strung like beads.</div> <div> If you cut a sunflower at sunset while making a wish, the wish will come true before another sunset - as long as the wish isn't too grand.</div> <div> Sleeping with a sunflower under the bed allows you to know the truth in any matter.</div> <div> If you wish to become virtuous, anoint yourself with juice pressed from the stems of the sunflower.</div> <div> Sunflowers growing in the garden guard it against pests and grant the best of luck to the gardener. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Culpeper/Grieve</div> <bR> <div> Sabadilla</div> <div> Botanical: Veratrum sabadilla </div> <div> Family: N.O. Liliaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dosage<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Poisonous, if any, with Antidotes<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Cevadilla. Schoenocaulon officinale. Melanthium sabadilla. Veratrum officinale. Helonias officinalis. Sabadilla officinarum. Asagraea officinalis. Sabadillermer. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Seeds, dried fruit. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Southern North America, Guatemala and Venezuela. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---The name Schcenocaulon indicates the habit of the scape, meaning 'a rush' and 'a stem.' The name Asagrcea commemorates Professor Asa Gray of Harvard University, the most distinguished of living American botanists. It is not quite certain whether the seeds are obtained from the Veratrum Sabadilla, a plant 3 or 4 feet high, or from the V. officinale, differing slightly in appearance and construction. The seeds are black, shining, flat, shrivelled and winged, odourless, with a bitter, acrid, persistent and disagreeable taste, the pale grey, amorphous powder being errhine and violently sternutatory. The seeds were known in Europe as early as 1752, but officially only as the source of veratrine. </div> <div>  <A NAME="con"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Constituents---Sabadilla contains several alkaloids, the most important being Cevadine, yielding cevine on hydrolysis; Veratrine, obtained from the syrupy liquor from which the cevadine has crystallized; and Cevadilline or Sabadillie, obtained after the extraction of the veratrine with ether.] </div> <div> Two other alkaloids have been isolated: Sabadine, which is less sternutatory than veratrine, and Sabadinine, which is not sternutatory. Sabadilla yields about 0.3 per cent of veratrine. The seeds also contain veratric acid, cevadic acid, fat and resin. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Sabadilla, or cevadilla, is an acrid, drastic emeto-cathartic, in overdoses capable of producing fatal results. Cevine was found to be less poisonous than cevadine, though producing similar symptoms. The powdered seeds have been used as a vermifuge, and to destroy vermin in the hair, being the principal ingredient of the pulvis capucinorum used in Europe. Cevadilla was formerly used internally as an anthelmintic, and in rheumatic and neuralgic affections. The highly poisonous veratria, which is derived from it, has been given in minute doses internally in acute rheumatism and gout, and in some inflammatory diseases, but it must be used with caution. Veratria is useful as an ointment in rheumatism and neuralgia, but is regarded as being less valuable than aconite. The ointment is also employed for the destruction of pedicule. Applied to unbroken skin it produces tingling and numbness, followed by coldness and anaesthesia. Given subcutaneously, it causes violent pain and irritation, in addition to the symptoms following an internal dose. The principal reason against its internal use is its powerful action on the heart, the contractions of the organ becoming fewer and longer until the heart stops in systole. </div> <div>  <A NAME="dos"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Dosage---From 5 to 20 grains as a taenicide. Ointment veratrine, B.P. </div> <div>  <A NAME="poi"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Poisonous, if any, with Antidotes---Large doses paralyse heart action and respiration, and its use is so dangerous that it is scarcely ever taken internally. </div> <bR> <div> Saflower</div> <div> Botanical: Carthamus tinctorius </div> <div> Common: N.O. Compositae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Dyer's Saffron. American Saffron. Fake Saffron. Flores Carthami. Bastard Saffron. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Flowers. </div> <div> This plant is not in any way related to Saffron, though the flowers are used similarly. (It largely replaces the use of Saffron owing to the large price of the latter. - EDITOR). </div> <div> The Safflower plant, known in India as Koosumbha and in China as Hoang-tchi, is extensively cultivated in India, China and other parts of Asia, also in Egypt and Southern Europe; but its native country is unknown. It grows about 2 to 3 feet high, with a stiff, upright whitish stem, branching near the top; and has oval, spiny, sharp-pointed leaves, their bases half-clasping the stem. Its fruits are about the size of barleycorns, somewhat four-sided, white and shining, like little shells. </div> <div> Safflower contains two colouring matters, yellow and red, the latter being most valued. It is chiefly used for dyeing silk, affording various shades of rose and scarlet. Mixed with finely-powdered talc it forms the wellknown substance called 'rouge.' Another common use of Safflower is in adulterating Saffron. The seeds yield an oil much used in India for burning and for culinary purposes. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---The flowers are the part used, their action is laxative and diaphoretic. In domestic practice these flowers are used in children's and infants' complaints - measles, fevers, and eruptive skin eomplaints. An infusion is made of 1/2 OZ. of the flowers to a pint of boiling water taken warm to produce diaphorasis. </div> <bR> <div> Saffron</div> <div> Botanical: Crocus sativus </div> <div> Family: N.O. Iridaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Preparations<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Crocus. Karcom. Krokos. </div> <div> (Arabian) Zaffer. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Flower pistils. </div> <div> The true Saffron is a low ornamental plant with grass-like leaves and large lily-shaped flowers, inhabiting the European continent, and frequently cultivated for the sake of the yellow stigmas, which are the part used in medicine, in domestic economy and in the arts. </div> <div> Saffron is the Karcom of the Hebrews (Song of Solomon iv. 14). The plant was also known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. </div> <div> In the course of an inquest held in 1921 at Poplar (London, E.), a medical witness testified to the prevalence of a domestic custom of giving Saffron 'tea' flavoured with brandy in cases of measles. </div> <div> The Emplastrum Oxycroceum of the Edinburgh Pharmacopceia contained, in olden days, a large proportion of Saffron (from which - and vinegar - it derived its name), with the addition of colophony, gum ammoniacum, mastic and vinegar. </div> <div> Saffron was imported to England from the East many centuries ago, and was once grown extensively round Saffron Walden, in Essex. One smoke-pervaded spot in the heart of London still bears the name of 'Saffron Hill.' It is a somewhat expensive product, the economic value residing in the stigmas of the flower, of which it is said 60,000 are needed to make 1 lb. of Saffron. </div> <div> According to Dr. Pereira, a grain of good commercial Saffron contains the stigmas and styles of nine flowers, and consequently 4,320 flowers are required to yield 1 OZ. of Saffron! English-grown Saffron is now very seldom met with in commerce; the best comes from Spain, while that imported from France is usually considered of second-rate quality. The quantity imported has been computed at between 5,000 and 20,000 lb. weight per annum. Saffron has a bitter taste and a penetrating aromatic odour. </div> <div> Lately, Persian Saffron has made its appearance in the English market - although of rare occurrence - owing to the high and increasing price of the European article. It has long been known as a wild product of Persia, and was formerly sent from that country and Kashmir to Bombay, but was driven out of the market by the superior Saffrons of Europe. </div> <div> Saffron was cultivated at Derbena and Ispahan in Persia in the tenth century. It differs a little in appearance from European Saffron in being rather more slender and in the unbranched part of the style being paler, but the characteristic odour is remarkably strong. On immersion in water it does not seem to give out so much colour as European Saffron, and could only compete with it if the price enabled it to be used in sufficient quantity to give a colour equal to that used in Europe. The wild Persian crocus is the variety Hausknechtii, which occurs on the Delechani and Sangur mountains between Kermanshah and Hamada in West Persia, and at Karput in Kurdistan, which is the most easterly point where any form of Crocus sativus occurs in the wild state. </div> <div> It may be mentioned that five forms of C. sativus are known in the wild state. (1) Var. Orsinii, which may be regarded as the Italian form and is found at Ascoli, the most westerly point from which any wild form of the plant is recorded. It nearly resembles the cultivated type in purplish colour and habit, but the stigmas are erect and do not hang out between the segments of the perianth, as in the cultivated plant. (2) Var. Cartwrightianus, a Greek form common in the Piraeus, in which the flowers are smaller and paler, but the stigma is erect and longer than the stamens, as in the cultivated plant. (3) Var. Pallasii, a still smaller form with pale flowers and smaller corms, the stigmas being nearly always shorter than the stamens. It is the commonest of the wild forms, extending through Bulgaria to the Crimea, and reaching Italy on the west. (4) Var. Elwesii. This is similar to the last, but has short stigmas and larger flowers, and occurs in Asia Minor. (5) Var. Hausknechtii. This, like Nos. 1 and 2, has long stigmas, but the perianth is usually white; it may be regarded as the Persian form, extending from West Persia to Kurdistan. But records of the collection of Saffron from the wild plants are wanting. Only Nos. 1, 2 and 5 are fitted for collection in having long stigmas, but the cultivated purple-flowered form with its stigmas hanging outside the flower would naturally be the easiest to collect, and it would only be the wild varieties from Italy, Greece and Persia that could be utilized. There is no doubt that the cultivated form is also grown from France to Kashmir, whence it was introduced from Persia, and also that it is largely cultivated in Burma (near the Youngaline River at Kuzeih, about ten miles from Pahun) and in China. But it is not always a paying crop, as it does not produce seeds unless cross-fertilized, and the corms are subject to disease if grown in the same ground too long. </div> <div> In these circumstances it is quite likely that the Persian Saffron at present offered in commerce may have been derived from the wild Persian form, var. Hausknechtii; at all events, the pale, almost white, lower part of the styles gives it a characteristic appearance. </div> <div> These details concerning the different forms are largely taken from the Chemist and Druggist of March 29, 1924. </div> <div>  <A NAME="cul"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---The corms are planted in rows, 6 inches apart from corm to corm, in a well-pulverized soil, neither poor nor a very stiff clay, and in the month of July. The flowers are collected in September and the yellow stigmas and part of the style are picked out and dried on a kiln between layers of paper and under the pressure of a thick board, to form the mass into cakes. Two pounds of dried cake is the average crop of an - acre after the first planting, and 24 lb. for the next two years. After the third crop the roots are taken up, divided and transplanted. </div> <div> The Arabs, who introduced the cultivation of the Saffron Crocus into Spain as an article of commerce, bequeathed to us its modern title of Zaffer, or 'Saffron,' but the Greeks and Romans called it Krokos and Karkom respectively. </div> <div> To the nations of Eastern Asia, its yellow dye was the perfection of beauty, and its odour a perfect ambrosia. 'Saffron yellow shoes formed part of the dress of the Persian Kings,' says Professor Hehn. Greek myths and poetry exhibit an extravagant admiration of the colour and perfume. Homer sings 'the Saffron morn'; gods and goddesses, heroes and nymphs and vestals, are clothed in robes of Saffron hue. The Saffron of Lydia, Cilicia and Cyrene was much prized. The scent was valued as much as the dye; saffron water was sprinkled on the benches of the theatre, the floors of banqueting-halls were strewn with crocus leaves, and cushions were stuffed with it. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue. Used as a diaphoretic for children and for chronic haemorrhage of the uterus in adults. </div> <div>  <A NAME="pre"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Preparations---Powdered Saffron: Tincture, B.P., 5 to 15 drops. </div> <bR> <div> Saffron, Meadow</div> <div> POISON!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> Botanical: Colchicum autumnale (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Liliaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Preparations<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonym---Naked Ladies. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Root, seeds. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Grows wild in meadows, especially on limestone. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---It has lanceolate leaves, dark green, glabrous, often a foot long. Flowers light purple or white, like crocus but for their six stamens; the ovaries remain underground until the spring after flowering, when they are borne up by the elongating peduncles and ripen. It flowers in September and October. The leaves and fruit are poisonous to cattle. </div> <div> The root is called a corm, from which in autumn the light-purplish mottled flowers arise. </div> <div>  <A NAME="cul_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---Requires light, sandy loam, enriched with decayed manure or leafmould. Plant the bulbs 3 inches deep and 3 inches apart in July or August, in moist beds or rockeries, shrubbery, borders or lawns near shade of trees. The foliage dies down in June and July, and does not reappear until after the plant has flowered. It may also be propagated by seeds sown 1/8 inch deep in a bed of fine soil outdoors in August or September, or in pans or boxes of similar soil in cold frame at the same time, transplanting seedlings 3 inches apart when two years old; or by division of bulbs in August. Seedling bulbs do not flower till four or five years old. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---The Colchicum is valued for its medicinal properties. The parts used are the root and seeds, these being anti-rheumatic, cathartic, and emetic. Its reputation rests largely upon its value in acute gouty and rheumatic complaints. It is mostly used in connexion with some alkaline diuretic; also in pill form. Overdoses cause violent purging, etc. </div> <div> The active principle is said to be an alkaline substance of a very poisonous nature called Colchinine. It is acrid, sedative, and acts upon all the secreting organs, particularly the bowels and kidneys. It is apt to cause undue depression, and in large doses acts as an irritant poison. Dr. Lindley relates the case of a woman who was poisoned by the sprouts of Colchicum, which had been thrown away in Covent Garden Market and which she mistook for onions. </div> <div> The Hermodactyls of the Arabians, formerly celebrated for soothing pains in the joints, are said to be this plant. </div> <div> The corm or root is usually sold in transverse slices, notched on one side and somewhat reniform in outline, white and starchy internally, about 1/8 inch thick, and varying from 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. Taste sweetish, then bitter and acrid. Odour radish-like in fresh root, but lost in drying. </div> <div>  <A NAME="pre_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Preparations---Powdered root, 2 to 5 grains. Extract, B.P., 1/4 to 1 grain. Fluid extract (root), 1 to 10 drops. Fluid extract (seed), U.S.P., 1 to 10 drops. Tincture, B.P., 5 to 15 drops. Wine, B.P., 10 to 30 drops. Acetic solid extract, 1/4 to 1 grain. </div> <bR> <div> Sages</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sage, Common<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sage, Clary<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sage, Vervain<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="com_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> SAGE, COMMON</div> <div> Botanical: Salvia officinalis (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Labiatae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Basic Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Habitat<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Chemical Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Culinary Recipes<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Recipes<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---(Old English) Sawge. Garden Sage. Red Sage. Broad-leaved White Sage. Narrow-leaved White Sage. Salvia salvatrix. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Leaves, whole herb. </div> <div> The Common Sage, the familiar plant of the kitchen garden, is an evergreen undershrub, not a native of these islands, its natural habitat being the northern shores of the Mediterranean. It has been cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes for many centuries in England, France and Germany, being sufficiently hardy to stand any ordinary winter outside. Gerard mentions it as being in 1597 a well-known herb in English gardens, several varieties growing in his own garden at Holborn. </div> <div>  <A NAME="combas_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Basic Description---Sage generally grows about a foot or more high, with wiry stems. The leaves are set in pairs on the stem and are 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, stalked, oblong, rounded at the ends, finely wrinkled by a strongly-marked network of veins on both sides, greyish-green in colour, softly hairy and beneath glandular. The flowers are in whorls, purplish and the corollas lipped. They blossom in August. All parts of the plant have a strong, scented odour and a warm, bitter, somewhat astringent taste, due to the volatile oil contained in the tissues. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comhab_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Habitat---Sage is found in its natural wild condition from Spain along the Mediterranean coast up to and including the east side of the Adriatic; it grows in profusion on the mountains and hills in Croatia and Dalmatia, and on the islands of Veglia and Cherso in Quarnero Gulf, being found mostly where there is a limestone formation with very little soil. When wild it is much like the common garden Sage, though more shrubby in appearance and has a more penetrating odour, being more spicy and astringent than the cultivated plant. The best kind, it is stated, grows on the islands of Veglia and Cherso, near Fiume, where the surrounding district is known as the Sage region. The collection of Sage forms an important cottage industry in Dalmatia. During its blooming season, moreover, the bees gather the nectar and genuine Sage honey commands there the highest price, owing to its flavour. </div> <div> In cultivation, Sage is a very variable species, and in gardens varieties may be found with narrower leaves, crisped, red, or variegated leaves and smaller or white flowers. The form of the calyx teeth also varies, and the tube of the corolla is sometimes much longer. The two usually absent upper stamens are sometimes present in very small-sterile hooks. The Red Sage and the Broad-leaved variety of the White (or Green) Sage - both of which are used and have been proved to be the best for medical purposes - and the narrow-leaved White Sage, which is best for culinary purposes as a seasoning, are classed merely as varieties of Salvza officinalis, not as separate species. There is a variety called Spanish, or Lavender-leaved Sage and another called Wormwood Sage, which is very frequent. </div> <div> A Spanish variety, called S. Candelabrum, is a hardy perennial, the upper lip of its flower greenish yellow, the lower a rich violet, thus presenting a fine contrast. </div> <div> S. Lyrala and S. urticifolia are well known in North America. </div> <div> S. hians, a native of Simla, is hardy, and also desirable on account of its showy violet-and-white flowers. </div> <div> The name of the genus, Salvia, is derived from the Latin salvere, to be saved, in reference to the curative properties of the plant, which was in olden times celebrated as a medicinal herb. This name was corrupted popularly to Sauja and Sauge (the French form), in Old English, 'Sawge,' which has become our present-day name of Sage. </div> <div> In the United States Pharmacopceia, the leaves are still officially prescribed, as they were formerly in the London Pharrnacopceia, but in Europe generally, Sage is now neglected by the regular medical practitioner, though is still used in domestic medicine. Among the Ancients and throughout the Middle Ages it was in high repute: Cur moriatur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto? ('Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden?') has a corresponding English proverb: </div> <div> 'He that would live for aye, </div> <div> Must eat Sage in May.' </div> <div> The herb is sometimes spoken of as S. salvatrix ('Sage the Saviour'). An old tradition recommends that Rue shall be planted among the Sage, so as to keep away noxious toads from the valued and cherished plants. It was held that this plant would thrive or wither, just as the owner's business prospered or failed, and in Bucks, another tradition maintained that the wife rules when Sage grows vigorously in the garden. </div> <div> In the Jura district of France, in Franche-Comte, the herb is supposed to mitigate grief, mental and bodily, and Pepys in his Diary says: 'Between Gosport and Southampton we observed a little churchyard where it was customary to sow all the graves with Sage.' </div> <div> The following is a translation of an old French saying: </div> <div> 'Sage helps the nerves and by its powerful might </div> <div> Palsy is cured and fever put to flight,' </div> <div> and Gerard says: </div> <div> 'Sage is singularly good for the head and brain, it quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that have the palsy, and taketh away shakey trembling of the members.' </div> <div> He shared the popular belief that it was efficacious against the bitings of serpents, and says: </div> <div> 'No man need to doubt of the wholesomeness of Sage Ale, being brewed as it should be with Sage, Betony, Scabious, Spikenard, Squinnette (Squinancywort) and Fennell Seed.' </div> <div> Many kinds of Sage have been used as substitutes for tea, the Chinese having been said to prefer Sage Tea to their own native product, at one time bartering for it with the Dutch and giving thrice the quantity of their choicest tea in exchange. It is recorded that George Whitfield, when at Oxford in 1733, lived wholesomely, if sparingly, on a diet of Sage Tea, sugar and coarse bread. Balsamic Sage, S. grandiflora, a broad-leaved Sage with many-flowered whorls of blossoms, used to be preferred to all others for making tea. An infusion of Speedwell (Veronica officinalis), Sage and Wood Betony is said to make an excellent beverage for breakfast, as a substitute for tea, Speedwell having somewhat the flavour of Chinese green tea. In Holland the leaves of S. glutinosa, the yellow-flowered Hardy Sage, both flowers and foliage of which exhale a pleasant odour, are used to give flavour to country wines, and a good wine is made by boiling with sugar, the leaves and flowers of another Sage, S. sclarea, the Garden Clary. The latter is known in France as 'Toute bonne' - for its medicinal virtues. </div> <div> It was formerly thought that Sage used in the making of Cheese improved its flavour, and Gay refers to this in a poem: </div> <div> 'Marbled with Sage, the hardening cheese she pressed.' </div> <div> Italian peasants eat Sage as a preservative of health, and many other country people eat the leaves with bread and butter, than which, it has been said, there is no better and more wholesome way of taking it. </div> <div> A species of Sage, S. pomifera, the APPLEBEARING SAGE, of a very peculiar growth, is common on some of the Greek islands. It has firm, fleshy protuberances of about 3/4 inch thickness, swelling out from the branches of the plant and supposed to be produced in the same manner as oak apples, by the puncture of an insect of the Cynips genus. These excrescences are semi-transparent like jelly. They are called Sage Apples, and under that name are to be met with in the markets. They are candied with sugar and made into a kind of sweetmeat and conserve which is regarded by the Greeks as a great delicacy, and is said to possess healing and salutary qualities. It has an agreeable and astringent flavour. This plant is considerably larger than the common Sage of our gardens and its flavour and smell are much more powerful, being more like a mixture of Lavender and Sage. It grows very abundantly in Candia, Syros and Crete, where it attains to the size of a small shrub. The leaves are collected annually, dried and used medicinally as an infusion, the Greeks being particular as to the time and manner in which they are collected, the date being May 1, before sunrise. The infusion produces profuse perspiration, languor, and even faintness if used to excess. There is a smaller Salvia in Greece, the S. Candica, without excrescences. </div> <div> Another south European species, an annual, S. Horminum, the RED-TOPPED SAGE, has its whorls of flowers terminated by clusters of small purple or red leaves, being for this peculiarity often grown in gardens as an ornamental plant. The leaves and seed of this species, put into the vat, while fermenting, greatly increase the inebriating quality of the liquor. An infusion of the leaves has been considered a good gargle for sore gums, and powdered makes a good snuff. </div> <div> Certain varieties of Sage seeds are mucilaginous and nutritive, and are used in Mexico by the Indians as food, under the name of Chia. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comcul_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---The Garden Sage succeeds best in a warm and rather dry border, but will grow well almost anywhere in ordinary garden soil; it thrives in a situation somewhat shaded from sunshine, but not strictly under trees. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comdes_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---It is a hardy plant, but though a perennial, does not last above three or four years without degenerating, so that the plantation should be renewed at least every four years. It is propagated occasionally by seed, but more frequently by cuttings. New plantations are readily made by pulling off the young shoots from three-year-old plants in spring, generally in the latter end of April, as soon as they attain a sufficiency of hardness to enable them to maintain themselves on the moisture of the ground and atmosphere, while the lower extremities are preparing roots. If advantage be taken of any showery weather that may occur, there is little trouble in obtaining any number of plants, which may either be struck in the bed where they are to grow, inserting a foot apart each way, or in some other shady spot whence they may be removed to permanent quarters when rooted. The latter plan is the best when the weather is too bright and sunny to expect Sage to strike well in its ordinary quarters. See the young plants do not suffer from want of water during their first summer, and hoe the rows regularly to induce a bushy growth, nipping off the growing tips if shooting up too tall. Treat the ground with soot and mulch in winter with old manure. Cuttings may also be taken in the autumn, as soon as the plants have ceased flowering. </div> <div> Sage is also often propagated by layers, in the spring and autumn, the branches of old plants being pegged down on the ground and covered with 1/2 inch of earth. The plant, being like other of the woody-stemmed garden herbs, a 'stem rooter,' each of the stems thus covered will produce quantities of rootlets by just lying in contact with the ground, and can after a time be cut away from the old plant and transplanted to other quarters as a separate plant. </div> <div> Red Sage is always propagated by layering or by cuttings, as the seed does not produce a red-leaved plant, but reverts back to the original green-leaved type, though efforts are being made to insure the production of a Red Sage that shall set seed and remain true and develop into the red-leaved plant. </div> <div> Sages backed by late-flowering Orange Lilies go very well together, and being in flower at the same time make an effective grouping. The calyces of Sage flowers remain on the plants well into late summer and give a lovely haze of reddish spikes; the smell of these seeding spikes is very distinct from the smell of the leaves, and much more like that of the Lemon-scented Verbena, pungent, aromatic and most refreshing. </div> <div> At the present day, by far the largest demand for Sage is for culinary use, and it should pay to grow it in quantity for this purpose as it is little trouble. For this, the White variety, with somewhat pale green leaves should be taken. </div> <div> In Dalmatia, where the collection of Sage in its wild condition forms an important cottage industry, it is gathered before blooming, the leaves being harvested from May to September, those plucked in midsummer being considered the best. The general opinion is that it should be gathered before the bloom opens, but the Austrian Pharmacopoeia states that it is best when gathered during bloom. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comche_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Chemical Constituents---The chief constituent of Sage and its active principle is a yellow or greenish-yellow volatile oil (sp. gr. 0.910 to 0.930) with a penetrating odour. Tannin and resin are also present in the leaves, 0.5 to 1.0 per cent of the oil is yielded from the leaves and twigs when fresh, and about three times this quantity when dry. </div> <div> The Sage oil of commerce is obtained from the herb S. officinalis, and distilled to a considerable extent in Dalmatia and recently in Spain, but from a different species of Salvia. A certain amount of oil is also distilled in Germany. The oil distilled in Dalmatia and in Germany is of typically Sage odour, and is used for flavouring purposes. The botanical origin of Spanish Sage oil is now identified as S. triloba, closely allied to S. officinalis, though probably other species may also be employed. The odour of the Spanish oil more closely resembles that of Spike Lavender than the Sage oil distilled in Germany for flavouring purposes, and is as a rule derived from the wild Dalmatian herb, S. officinalis. The resemblance of the Spanish oil to Spike Lavender oil suggests the possibility of its use for adulterative purposes, and it is an open secret that admixture of the Spanish Sage oil with Spanish Spike Lavender oil does take place to a considerable extent, though this can be detected by chemical analysis. It is closer in character to the oil of S. sclarea, Clary oil, which has a decided lavender odour, although in the oil of S. triloba, the ester percentage does not appear to be as high as in the oil of the S. sclarea variety. </div> <div> Pure Dalmatian or German Sage oil is soluble in two volumes of 80 per cent alcohol, Spanish Sage oil is soluble in six volumes of 70 per cent alcohol. </div> <div> Sage oil contains a hydrocarbon called Salvene; pinene and cineol are probably present in small amount, together with borneol, a small quantity of esters, and the ketone thujone, the active principle which confers the power of resisting putrefaction in animal substances. Dextro-camphor is also present in traces. A body has been isolated by certain chemists called Salviol, which is now known to be identical with Thujone. </div> <div> English distilled Sage oil has been said to contain Cedrene. </div> <div> S. cypria, a native of the island of Cyprus, yields an essential oil, having a camphoraceous odour and containing about 75 per cent of Eucalyptol. </div> <div> S. mellifer (syn. Ramona stachyoides) is a labiate plant found in South California, known as BLACK SAGE, with similar constituents, and also traces of formic acid. </div> <div>  <A NAME="commed_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Stimulant, as tringent, tonic and carminative. Has beenused in dyspepsia, but is now mostly employed as a condiment. In the United States, where it is still an official medicine, it is in some repute, especially in the form of an infusion, the principal and most valued application of which is as a wash for the cure of affections of the mouth and as a gargle in inflamed sore throat, being excellent for relaxed throat and tonsils, and also for ulcerated throat. The gargle is useful for bleeding gums and to prevent an excessive flow of saliva. </div> <div> When a more stimulating effect to the throat is desirable, the gargle may be made of equal quantities of vinegar and water, 1/2 pint of hot malt vinegar being poured on 1 OZ. of leaves, adding 1/2 pint of cold water. </div> <div> The infusion when made for internal use is termed Sage Tea, and can be made simply by pouring 1 pint of boiling water on to 1 OZ. of the dried herb, the dose being from a wineglassful to half a teacupful, as often as required, but the old-fashioned way of making it is more elaborate and the result is a pleasant drink, cooling in fevers, and also a cleanser and purifier of the blood. Half an ounce of fresh Sage leaves, 1 OZ. of sugar, the juice of 1 lemon, or 1/4 OZ. of grated rind, are infused in a quart of boiling water and strained off after half an hour. (In Jamaica the negroes sweeten Sage Tea with lime-juice instead of lemon.) </div> <div> Sage Tea or infusion of Sage is a valuable agent in the delirium of fevers and in the nervous excitement frequently accompanying brain and nervous diseases and has considerable reputation as a remedy, given in small and oft-repeated doses. It is highly serviceable as a stimulant tonic in debility of the stomach and nervous system and weakness of digestion generally. It was for this reason that the Chinese valued it, giving it the preference to their own tea. It is considered a useful medicine in typhoid fever and beneficial in biliousness and liver complaints, kidney troubles, haemorrhage from the lungs or stomach, for colds in the head as well as sore throat and quinsy and measles, for pains in the joints, lethargy and palsy. It will check excessive perspiration in phthisis cases, and is useful as an emmenagogue. A cup of the strong infusion will be found good to relieve nervous headache. </div> <div> The infusion made strong, without the lemons and sugar, is an excellent lotion for ulcers and to heal raw abrasions of the skin. It has also been popularly used as an application to the scalp, to darken the hair. </div> <div> The fresh leaves, rubbed on the teeth, will cleanse them and strengthen the gums. Sage is a common ingredient in tooth-powders. </div> <div> The volatile oil is said to be a violent epileptiform convulsant, resembling the essential oils of absinthe and nutmeg. When smelt for some time it is said to cause a sort of intoxication and giddiness. It is sometimes prescribed in doses of 1 to 3 drops, and used for removing heavy collections of mucus from the respiratory organs. It is a useful ingredient in embrocations for rheumatism. </div> <div> In cases where heat is required, Sage has been considered valuable when applied externally in bags, as a poultice and fomentation. </div> <div> In Sussex, at one time, to munch Sage leaves on nine consecutive mornings, whilst fasting, was a country cure for ague, and the dried leaves have been smoked in pipes as a remedy for asthma. </div> <div> In the region where Sage grows wild, its leaves are boiled in vinegar and used as a tonic. </div> <div> Among many uses of the herb, Culpepper says that it is: </div> <div> 'Good for diseases of the liver and to make blood. A decoction of the leaves and branches of Sage made and drunk, saith Dioscorides, provokes urine and causeth the hair to become black. It stayeth the bleeding of wounds and cleaneth ulcers and sores. Three spoonsful of the juice of Sage taken fasting with a little honey arrests spitting or vomiting of blood in consumption. It is profitable for all pains in the head coming of cold rheumatic humours, as also for all pains in the joints, whether inwardly or outwardly. The juice of Sage in warm water cureth hoarseness and cough. Pliny saith it cureth stinging and biting serpents. Sage is of excellent use to help the memory, warming and quickening the senses. The juice of Sage drunk with vinegar hath been of use in the time of the plague at all times. Gargles are made with Sage, Rosemary, Honeysuckles and Plantains, boiled in wine or water with some honey or alum put thereto, to wash sore mouths and throats, as need requireth. It is very good for stitch or pains in the sides coming of wind, if the place be fomented warm with the decoction in wine and the herb also, after boiling, be laid warm thereto.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="comculrec_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> CULINARY RECIPES</div> <div> Sage and Onion stuffing for ducks, geese and pork enables the stomach to digest the rich food. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comrecsaw_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>From Warner's Ancient Cookery, 1791, for 'Sawgeat,' Sawge. Sawgeat </div> <div> 'Take Pork and seeth (boil) it wel and grinde it smale and medle (mingle) it with ayren (eggs) and ygrated (grated) brede (bread). Do thereto salt sprinkled and saffron. Take a close litull ball of it in foiles (leaves) of Sawge. Wet it with a bator (batter) of ayren, fry and serve forth.'  <A NAME="comreconi_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> From The Cook's Oracle, 1821: </div> <div> 'Sage and Onion Sauce </div> <div> 'Chop very fine an ounce of onion and 1/2 OZ. of green Sage leaves, put them in a stamper with 4 spoonsful of water, simmer gently for 10 minutes, then put in a teaspoonful of pepper and salt and 1 OZ. of fine breadcrumbs. Mix well together, then pour to it 1/4 pint of Broth, Gravy or Melted Butter, stir well together and simmer a few minutes longer. This is a relishing sauce for Roast Pork, Geese or Duck, or with Green Peas on Maigre Days.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="comrecrel_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>The same book gives: </div> <div> 'A Relish for Roast Pork. or Goose </div> <div> '2 OZ. of leaves of Green Sage, an ounce of fresh lemon peel, pared thin, same of salt, minced shallot and 1/2 drachm of Cayenne pepper, ditto of citric acid, steeped for a fortnight in a pint of claret. Shake it well every day; let it stand a day to settle and decant the clear liquid. Bottle it and cork it close. Use a tablespoonful or more in 1/4 pint of gravy or melted butter.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="comrecsag_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>Another modern Sage Sauce, excellent with Roast Pork is: </div> <div> Sagina Sauce </div> <div> Take 6 large Sage leaves, 2 onions, 1 teaspoonful of flour, 1 teaspoonful of vinegar, butter the size of a walnut, salt, pepper, and 1/2 pint of good, brown gravy. Scald the Sage leaves and chop them with the onions to a mincemeat. Put them in a stewpan with the butter, sprinkle in the flour, cover close and steam 10 minutes. Then add the vinegar, gravy and seasoning and simmer half an hour. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comrecche_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>From Walsh's Manual of Domestic Economy, 1857: </div> <div> 'Sage Cheese </div> <div> 'Bruise the tops of young red Sage in a mortar with some leaves of spinach and squeeze the juice; mix it with the rennet in the milk, more or less, according to the preferred colour and taste. When the curd is come, break it gently and put it in with the skimmer till it is pressed two inches above the vat. Press it 8 or 10 hours. Salt it and turn every day.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="commedrec_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> MEDICINAL RECIPES</div> <div>  <A NAME="comrecgar_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>A Gargle for a Sore Throat </div> <div> A small glass of port wine, a tablespoonful of Chile vinegar, 6 Sage leaves, and a dessertspoonful of honey; simmer together on the fire for 5 minutes. </div> <div>  <A NAME="comreccur_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>A Cure for Sprains </div> <div> Bruise a handful of Sage leaves and boil them in a gill of vinegar for 5 minutes; apply this in a folded napkin as hot as it can be borne to the part affected. </div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="cla_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> SAGE, CLARY</div> <bR> <div> Botanical: Salvia sclarea </div> <div> Family: N.O. Labiatae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Parts Used<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Clary. Horminum. Gallitricum. Clear Eye. See Bright. </div> <div> (German) Muskateller Salbei. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Herb, leaves, seeds. </div> <div> ---Habitat---The Common Clary, like the Garden Sage, is not a native of Great Britain, having first been introduced into English cultivation in the year 1562. It is a native of Syria, Italy, southern France and Switzerland, but will thrive well upon almost any soil that is not too wet, though it will frequently rot upon moist ground in the winter. </div> <div> Gerard describes and figures several varieties of Clary, under the names of Horminum and Gallitricum. He describes it as growing 'in divers barren places almost in every country, especially in the fields of Holborne neare unto Grayes Inne . . . and at the end of Chelsea.' </div> <div> Salmon, in 1710, in The English Herbal, gives a number of varieties of the Garden Clary, which he calls Horminum Hortense, in distinction to H. Sylvestre, the Wild Clary, subdividing it into the Common Clary (H. commune), the True Garden Clary of Dioscorides (H. sativum verum Dioscorides), the Yellow Clary (Calus Jovis), and the Small or German Clary (H. humile Germanicum or Gallitricum alterum Gerardi). This last variety being termed Gerardi, indicates that Gerard classified this species when it was first brought over from the Continent, evidently taking great pains to trace its history, giving in his Herbal its Greek name and its various Latin ones. That the Clary was known in ancient times is shown by the second variety, the True Garden Clary, being termed Dioscoridis. </div> <div> Another variety of Horminum is given in The Treasury of Botany, called H. pyrenaicum, and described as 'a tufted perennial herb, with numerous root-leaves, simple almost leafless stems and purplish-blue flowers which grow in whorls of six, all turned the same way. It is a native of the temperate parts of Europe, on the mountains.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="clades_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---The Common Garden Clary is a biennial plant, its square, brownish stems growing 2 to 3 feet high, hairy and with few branches. The leaves are arranged in pairs, almost stalkless and are almost as large as the hand, oblong and heart-shaped, wrinkled, irregularly toothed at the margins and covered with velvety hairs. The flowers are in a long, loose, terminal spike, on which they are set in whorls. The lipped corollas, similar to the Garden Sage, but smaller, are of a pale blue or white. The flowers are interspersed with large coloured, membraneous bracts, longer than the spiny calyx. Both corollas and bracts are generally variegated with pale purple and yellowish-white. The seeds are blackish brown, 'contained in long, toothed husks,' as an old writer describes the calyx. The whole plant possesses a very strong, aromatic scent, somewhat resembling that of Tolu while the taste is also aromatic, warm and sightly bitter. </div> <div> According to Ettmueller, this herb was first brought into use by the wine merchants of Germany, who employed it as an adulterant, infusing it with Elder flowers, and then adding the liquid to the Rhenish wine, which converted it into the likeness of Muscatel. It is still called in Germany Muskateller Salbei (Muscatel Sage). </div> <div> Waller (1822) states it was also employed in this country as a substitute for Hops, for sophisticating beer, communicating considerable bitterness and intoxicating property, which produced an effect of insane exhilaration of spirits, succeeded by severe headache. Lobel says: </div> <div> 'Some brewers of Ale and Beere doe put it into their drinke to make it more heady, fit to please drunkards, who thereby, according to their several dispositions, become either dead drunke, or foolish drunke, or madde drunke.' </div> <div> In some parts of the country a wine has been made from the herb in flower, boiled with sugar, which has a flavour not unlike Frontiniac. </div> <div> The English name Clary originates in the Latin name sclarea, a word derived from clarus (clear). Clary was gradually modified into 'Clear Eye,' one of its popular names, and from the fact that the seeds have been used for clearing the sight. </div> <div> Sometimes we find the plant not only called 'Clear Eye,' but also 'See Bright' and even 'Eyebright,' though this name belongs to another plant - Euphrasia officinalis. </div> <div>  <A NAME="clacul_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---Clary is propagated by seed, which should be sown in spring. When fit to move, the seedlings should be transplanted to an open spot of ground, a foot apart each way, if required in large quantities. After the plants have taken root, they will require no further care but to keep them free of weeds. The winter and spring following, the leaves will be in perfection. As the plant is a biennial only, dying off the second summer, after it has ripened seeds, there should be young plants annually raised for use. </div> <div>  <A NAME="clapar_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Parts Used---The herb and leaves, used both fresh and dry, dried in the same manner as the Garden Sage. Formerly the root was used, dry, in domestic medicine, and also the seeds. </div> <div>  <A NAME="clacon_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Constituents---Salvia sclarea yields an oil with a highly aromatic odour, resembling that of ambergris. It is known commercially as Clary oil, or Muscatel Sage, and is largely used as a fixer of perfumes. Pinene, cineol and linalol have been isolated from this oil. </div> <div> French oil of Clary has a specific gravity of 0.895 to 0.930, and is soluble in two volumes of 80 per cent alcohol. German oil of Clary has a specific gravity of 0.910 to 0.960, and is soluble in two volumes of 90 per cent alcohol. </div> <div>  <A NAME="clamed_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Antispasmodic, balsamic, carminative, tonic, aromatic, aperitive, astringent, and pectoral. </div> <div> The plant has been used, both fresh and dry, either alone or with other herbs, as an infusion or a tincture. </div> <div> It has mostly been employed in disordered states of the digestion, as a stomachic, and has also proved useful in kidney diseases. </div> <div> For violent cases of hysteria or wind colic, a spirituous tincture has been found of use, made by macerating in warm water for 14 days, 2 OZ. of dried Clary leaves and flowers, 1 OZ. of Chamomile flowers, 1/2 ox. bruised Avens root, 2 drachms of bruised Caraway and Coriander seeds, and 3 drachms of bruised Burdock seeds, adding 2 pints of proof spirit, then filtering and diluting with double quantity of water - a wineglassful being the dose. </div> <div> Culpepper says: </div> <div> 'For tumours, swellings, etc., make a mucilage of the seeds and apply to the spot. This will also draw splinters and thorns out of the flesh.... For hot inflammation and boils before they rupture, use a salve made of the leaves boiled with hot vinegar, honey being added later till the required consistency is obtained.' He recommends a powder of the dry roots taken as snuff to relieve headache, and 'the fresh leaves, fried in butter, first dipped in a batter of flour, egges, and a little milke, serve as a dish to the table that is not unpleasant to any and exceedingly profitable.' </div> <div> The juice of the herb drunk in ale and beer, as well as the ordinary infusion, has been recommended as very helpful in all women's diseases and ailments. </div> <div> In Jamaica, where the plant is found, it was much in use among the negroes, who considered it cooling and cleansing for ulcers, and also used it for inflammations of the eyes. A decoction of the leaves boiled in coco-nut oil was used by them to cure the stings of scorpions. Clary and a Jamaican species of Vervain form two of the ingredients of an aromatic warm bath sometimes prescribed there with benefit. </div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="ver_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> SAGE, VERVAIN</div> <div> Botanical: Salvia Verbenaca </div> <div> Family: N.O. Labiatae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Other Species<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Wild English Clary. Christ's Eye. Oculus Christi. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Leaves, seeds. </div> <div> The Wild English Clary, or Vervain Sage, is a native of all parts of Europe and not uncommon in England in dry pastures and on roadsides, banks and waste ground, especially near the sea, or on chalky soil. It is a smaller plant than the Garden Clary, but its medicinal virtues are rather more powerful. </div> <div>  <A NAME="verdes_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---The perennial root is woody, thicky and long, the stem 1 to 2 feet high, erect with the leaves in distinct pairs, the lower shortly stalked, and the upper ones stalkless. The radical leaves lie in a rosette and have foot-stalks 1 1/2 to 4 inches long, their blades about the same length, oblong in shape, blunt at their ends and heart-shaped at the base, wavy at the margins, which are generally indented by five or six shallow, blunt lobes on each side, their surfaces much wrinkled. The whole plant is aromatic, especially when rubbed, and is rendered conspicuous by its long spike of purplish-blue flowers, first dense, afterwards becoming rather lax. The whorls of the spike are sixflowered, and at the base of each flower are two heart-shaped, fringed, pointed bracts. The calyx is much larger than the corolla. The plant is in bloom from June to August. The seeds are smooth, and like the Garden Clary, produce a great quantity of soft, tasteless mucilage, when moistened. If put under the eyelids for a few moments the tears dissolve this mucilage, which envelops any dust and brings it out safely. Old writers called this plant 'Oculus Christi,' or 'Christ's Eye.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="vermed_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---'A decoction of the leaves,' says Culpepper, 'being drank, warms the stomach, also it helps digestion and scatters congealed blood in any part of the body.' </div> <div> This Clary was thought to be more efficacious to the eye than the Garden variety. </div> <div> 'The distilled water strengthening the eyesight, especially of old people,' says Culpepper, 'cleaneth the eyes of redness waterishness and heat: it is a gallant remedy fordimness of sight, to take one of the seeds of it and put it into the eyes, and there let it remain till it drops out of itself, the pain will be nothing to speak on: it will cleanse the eyes of all filthy and putrid matter; and repeating it will take off a film which covereth the sight.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="veroth_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Other Species--- </div> <div> Salvia pratensis, the MEADOW SAGE - our other native Sage - is a very rare plant, found only in a few localities in Cornwall, Kent and Oxfordshire, and by some authorities is considered hardly a true native. </div> <div> It is common in some parts of Italy and the Ionian Islands. </div> <div> It has the habit of S. Verbenaca, but is larger. The flowers are very showy, large and bright blue, arranged on a long spike, four flowers in each whorl, the corolla (about four times as long as the calyx) having the prominent upper lip much arched and compressed and often glutinous. The stem bears very few leaves. </div> <div> Several plants, though not true Sages, have been popularly called 'Sage': Phlomis fruticosa, a hardy garden shrub, 2 to 4 feet high, with flowers either yellow or dusky yellow, was known as Jerusalem Sage; Turner (1548) terms it so and he is followed in this by Green (1832), whereas Lyte (1578) gives this name to Pulmonaria officinalis, the Common Lungwort, and Gerard (1597), describing Phlomis fruticosa, gives it another name, saying, 'The leaves are in shape like the leaves of Sage, whereupon the vulgar people call it French Sage.' Gerard gives the name of 'Sage of Bethlem' to Pulmonaria officinalis; in localities of North Lincolnshire, the name has been given to the Garden Mint, Mentha viridis. 'Garlick Sage' is one of the names quoted by Gerard for Teucrium scorodonia, which we find variously termed by old writers, Mountain Sage, Wild Sage and Wood Sage. </div> <div> See <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="BlackChancery" >GERMANDER, SAGE-LEAVED</FONT>. </div> <bR> <div> St. John's Wort</div> <div> Botanical: Hypericum perforatum (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Hypericaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Preparations and Dosages<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Parts Used---Herb tops, flowers. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Britain and throughout Europe and Asia. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---A herbaceous perennial growing freely wild to a height of 1 to 3 feet in uncultivated ground, woods, hedges, roadsides, and meadows; short, decumbent, barren shoots and erect stems branching in upper part, glabrous; leaves pale green, sessile, oblong, with pellucid dots or oil glands which may be seen on holding leaf to light. Flowers bright cheery yellow in terminal corymb. Calyx and corolla marked with black dots and lines; sepals and petals five in number; ovary pear-shaped with three long styles. Stamens in three bundles joined by their bases only. Blooms June to August, followed by numerous small round blackish seeds which have a resinous smell and are contained in a three-celled capsule; odour peculiar, terebenthic; taste bitter, astringent and balsamic. </div> <div> There are many ancient superstitions regarding this herb. Its name Hyperieum is derived from the Greek and means 'over an apparition,' a reference to the belief that the herb was so obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to fly. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Aromatic, astringent, resolvent, expectorant and nervine. Used in all pulmonary complaints, bladder troubles, in suppression of urine, dysentery, worms, diarrhoea, hysteria and nervous depression, haemoptysis and other haemorrhages and jaundice. For children troubled with incontinence of urine at night an infusion or tea given before retiring will be found effectual; it is also useful in pulmonary consumption, chronic catarrh of the lungs, bowels or urinary passages. Externally for fomentations to dispel hard tumours, caked breasts, ecchymosis, etc. </div> <div>  <A NAME="pre_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Preparations and Dosages---1 OZ. of the herb should be infused in a pint of water and 1 to 2 tablespoonsful taken as a dose. Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. </div> <div> The oil of St. John's Wort is made from the flowers infused in olive oil. </div> <bR> <div> Salep</div> <div> See: </div> <div> Orchids<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> Saffron<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Salsafy</div> <div> Botanical: Tragopogon porrifolius (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Compositae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Recipes<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Purple Goat's Beard. Vegetable Oyster. </div> <div> (French) Salsifis des prés. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Root. </div> <div> The Salsafy, familiar as a kitchen-garden plant, is very similar to Goat's Beard, the main difference being the colour of the flowers - yellow in our native species, purple in the Salsafy. </div> <div> Salsafy is often called the Purple Goat's Beard, from its likeness in general character to the Yellow Goat's Beard of the countryside. Some writers, again, invert this distinction and call the Yellow Goat's Beard, 'Meadow Salsafy.' The French call it 'Salsifis des prés.' </div> <div> Salsafy is a corruption of the old Latin name solsequium. This was derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sequens (following), meaning the flower that followed the course of the sun. </div> <div> It is a taller plant than the Goat's Beard, the stem being nearly 3 feet high. The leaves and flowers are similar in form, the flowers having the same peculiarity of closing at noon. The florets are of a delicate pale purple colour. </div> <div> Though not a British species, it is occasionally found in moist meadows, having been originally a garden escape. It was formerly much cultivated for the sake of its fleshy, tapering roots. </div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="cul_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---Salsafy is a very easy crop to grow and matures in a year. </div> <div> A friable, open soil is preferable, though it will also grow on heavy soil. On a stony soil, or one made up of clay with flints scattered in it, it will not be a success, as the roots get coarse and forked. No manure should be added to the soil, as forking will also then result, but wood-ash, lime, soot, superphosphates, etc., may be used freely. </div> <div> The seeds should be sown 1 inch or more deep, 4 inches apart, in drills 9 inches asunder, as early in March as possible, to give a long season for its growth. </div> <div> The roots may be lifted in October and stored in the same way as Beet, Carrot, etc., or they may remain in the ground until the spring. </div> <div> Salsafy seed frequently fails, unless kept wet from sowing time till the seedlings are well up. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Culpepper says of Purple Goat's Beard: </div> <div> 'The virtues of this are the same as the other, only less pleasant, therefore more bitter, astringent, detersive and medicinal. This, however, may be eaten in great quantities, and so will be useful in chronic complaints. The roots are particularly specific in obstructions of the gall and the jaundice; the best way to use them is stewed like chardoons.' </div> <div> It ranks as one of the most salubrious of culinary vegetables, being antibilious, cooling, deobstruent, and slightly aperient; but although it is deservedly esteemed as an esculent, it is nevertheless decidedly inferior to Scorzonera in properties, nor does it keep so well when taken out of the ground, as it soon becomes hardened, insipid, and difficult to cook properly. </div> <div> See <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="BlackChancery" >GOAT'S BEARD (YELLOW)</FONT>. </div> <div>  <A NAME="rec"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> RECIPES</div> <div>  <A NAME="recbak"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>-Baked Salsafy- </div> <div> Scrape 1 bundle of Salsafy, wash and cut into short pieces, and put into a basin of cold water containing lemon juice or vinegar. Drain and cook in stock or seasoned water till tender. Make a white sauce, put in the Salsafy previously drained and blend both carefully. Place on a buttered dish, pour over the sauce sprinkle breadcrumbs over, add a few small pieces of butter and bake for 10 minutes in a sharp oven. </div> <div>  <A NAME="recche"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>-Salsafy with Cheese- </div> <div> Cook and drain and place a layer of Salsafy in a shallow dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese, then a layer of Bechamel sauce, again a layer of Salsafy, then more cheese and sauce, and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top. Place in a quick oven to get well hot through and brown. </div> <div> To serve plain boiled, the roots must be scraped lightly first, cut up into two or three portions, and placed in water, with a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar, to prevent them discolouring. Then boiled for an hour, quickly, in salt water till tender, drained and served with a white sauce. </div> <div>  <A NAME="recstw"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>-Stewed Salsafy- </div> <div> Scrape about 20 heads of Salsafy, cut into pieces about 2 inches long, sprinkle them with salt and steep in water and milk. Cut a small onion, half a carrot, half a turnip and half a head of celery into small pieces. Put these on in a stewpan with 1/4 lb. of lean bacon cut into pieces. Cook for 20 minutes. Mix 1 OZ. flour with a little milk and stir in, fill up with a quart of stock or water, stir and bring to the boil. Put in the Salsafy and let it simmer till tender. Add a tablespoonful of cream, one of chopped parsley, and a little lemon juice. Season with pepper, grated nutmeg and castor sugar. Reheat and arrange the Salsafy neatly on a dish, garnish with button mushrooms, pour over the sauce and serve. </div> <div>  <A NAME="reccre"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>-Salsafy Cream Soup- </div> <div> Scrape and wash a bundle of Salsafy. Cut it up small and place in a stewpan, with 3 OZ. of butter and a finely-minced onion, and stir for a few minutes. Then moisten with about a quart of white stock, add also 1 OZ. rice. When cooked, drain and pound with the rice and pass all through a fine sieve. Then put the purée with a stock, stir over the fire, boil up the soup, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. At the last add half a gill of cream, 2 beaten-up yolks of eggs, but do not let the soup boil again. </div> <bR> <div> Salvias</div> <div> See <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="BlackChancery" >Sages</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Samphire</div> <div> Botanical: Crithmum maritimum (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Umbelliferae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Sea Fennel. Crest Marine. Sampier. </div> <div> (German) Meerfenchel. </div> <div> (Italian) Herba di San Pietra. Sanpetra. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Herb. </div> <div> Occasionally we find the name SEA FENNEL given to a plant which is far more familiar under the name of SAMPHIRE, and which also belongs to the great order of umbelliferous plants, though not to the same genus as the fennel. In German, this plant is also given a name equivalent to sea-fennel: Meerfenchel. </div> <div> Prior tells us that the name of this plant is more properly zas; it was formerly spelt Sampere, or Sampier, from Saint Pierre, and Herba di San Pietra (contracted to Sanpetra) is its Italian name. It is dedicated to the fisherman saint, because it likes to grow on sea-cliffs. </div> <div> The Samphire is a succulent, smooth, much-branched herb, woody at the base, growing freely on rocks on the sea-shore moistened by the salt spray. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---It is well distinguished by its long, fleshy, bright-green, shining leaflets (full of aromatic juice) and umbels of tiny, yellowish-green blossoms. The whole plant is aromatic and has a powerful scent. </div> <div> The young leaves, if gathered in May, sprinkled with salt (after freeing them from stalks and flowers), boiled and covered with vinegar and spice, make one of the best pickles, on account of their aromatic taste. </div> <div> On those parts of the coast where Samphire does not abound, other plants which resemble it in having fleshy leaves are sometimes sold under the same name, but are very inferior. </div> <div> Samphire gathering is referred to in King Lear: </div> <div> 'Half-way down </div> <div> Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!' </div> <div> At the present time it grows but sparingly on the white cliffs of Dover, where Shakespeare described it, but in his days it was probably more abundant there. From his description of the perilous nature of the collection of Samphire, it might be assumed that it grows where none but the adventurous can reach it, but it is to be found growing freely in the clefts of the rocks, and is in many places easily accessible from the beach, and is even sometimes to be found in the salt marshes that in some districts fringe the coast. </div> <div> Samphire is abundantly met with where circumstances are favourable to its growth, around the coasts of western or southern England, but is rarer in the north and seldom met with in Scotland. </div> <div> The use of Samphire as a condiment and pickle, or as an ingredient in a salad is of ancient date. It used at one time to be cried in London streets as 'Crest Marine.' </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---In Gerard's time it was in great reputation as a condiment. He wrote in 1597: </div> <div> 'The leaves kept in pickle and eaten in sallads with oile and vinegar is a pleasant sauce for meat, wholesome for the stoppings of the liver, milt and kidnies. It is the pleasantest sauce, most familiar and best agreeing with man's body.' </div> <div> Culpepper, writing some fifty years later, deplores that it had in his days much gone out of fashion, for it is well known almost to everybody that ill digestions and obstructions are the cause of most of the diseases which the frail nature of man is subject to; both of which might be remedied by a more frequent use of this herb. It is a safe herb, very pleasant to taste and stomach. </div> <div> In some seaside districts where Samphire is found, it is still eaten pickled by country people. </div> <bR> <div> Samphire, Golden</div> <div> Botanical: Inula crithmoides (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Compositae</div> <div> ---Part Used---Herb. </div> <div> Inula crithmoides, popularly named Golden Samphire, is a species growing in salt marshes and on sea-cliffs, but rare, and in England only plentiful in the Isle of Sheppey. </div> <div> ---Description---It has narrow, fleshy leaves and large yellow flowers, growing singly at the extremity of the branches. Formerly, when Samphire (Crithmum Maritimum) was sold in the London markets for a pickle, the young branches of this species were sometimes mixed with it, causing Green in his Universal Herbal (1832) to indignantly remark: 'but it is a villainous imposition because this plant has none of the warm aromatic taste of the true Samphire.' </div> <div> See <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="BlackChancery" >ELECAMPANE</FONT>. </div> <bR> <div> Sandalwood</div> <div> Botanical: Santalum album (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Santalaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Adulterants<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Other Species<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonym---Sanders-wood. </div> <div> ---Parts Used---Wood, oil. </div> <div> ---Habitat---India. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---A small tree 20 to 30 feet high, with many opposite slender drooping branches, bark smooth grey-brown. Young twigs glabrous; leaves opposite, without stipules, petiole slender, about 1/2 inch long, blade 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long, oval, ovate-oval or lanceolate, acute or obtuse at apex, tapering at base into petiole entire, smooth on both sides, glaucous beneath. Flowers small, numerous, shortly stalked in small pyramidal erect terminal and axillary, trichotomus paniculate, cymes panicle, branches smooth, bracts small passing into leaves below. </div> <div> Perianth campanulate, smooth, about 1/5 inch long, divided into four (rarely five) triangular, acute, spreading segments, valvate, in bud rather fleshy, at first straw coloured, changing to deep reddish purple provided at the mouth with four erect, fleshy, rounded lobes. Stamens four, opposite, perianth segments, filaments short, in serted in mouth of perianth alternating witherect lobes. Anthers short, two-celled, introrse, ovary half, inferior, tapering, onecelled, an erect central placenta, rising from base and not reaching to the top, to the summit of which are attached three or four pendulous ovules without the usual coverings, style filiform, stigma small, three or four lobed on a level with anthers. </div> <div> Fruit concealed about size of a pea, spherical, crowned by rim-like remains of perianth tube, smooth, rather fleshy, nearly black, seed solitary. </div> <div> The trees are felled or dug up by roots; the branches are worthless, so are cut off. It is usual to leave the trunk on the ground for several months for the white ants to eat away the sap wood, which is also of no value; it is then trimmed and sawn into billets 2 to 2 1/2 feet long and taken to mills in the forests, where it is again trimmed and sorted into grades. It is heavy, hard, but splits easily; colour light yellow, transverse sections yellow to light reddish brown, with alternating light and dark concentric zones nearly equal in diameter, numerous pores, and traversed by many very narrow medullary rays. Odour characteristic, aromatic, persistent; taste peculiar, strongly aromatic. Indian Sandalwood is a Government monopoly. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Used internally in chronic bronchitis, a few drops on sugar giving relief; also in gonorrhoea and gleet; in chronic cystitis, with benzoic and boric acids. Much used as a perfume for different purposes. The wood is used for making fancy articles and is much carved. </div> <div> Fluid extract, 1 to 2 drachms. Oil, 5 to 20 drops. </div> <div>  <A NAME="adu"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Adulterants---Castor oil is often added, and on the Continent oil of cedar, made by distilling the chips remaining from the manufacture of lead pencils. </div> <div>  <A NAME="oth"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Other Species---Pterocarpus santalinus or Santalum rubrum (Red Sandalwood), solely used for colouring and dyeing. Other varieties come from the Sandwich Islands, Western Australia and New Caledonia. </div> <bR> <div> Sandspurry, Common</div> <div> Botanical: Arenaria rubra (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Caryophyllaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dosages<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Spergularia rubra. Sabline rouge. Tissa rubra. Birda rubra. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Herb. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Europe, Russia, Asia, North America, Australia. </div> <div> Common in Britain in sandy, gravelly heaths and waste places near the sea. Flowers all the summer. There are two marked varieties: the one growing inland has small flowers, thin leaves, short capsules, seeds rarely bordered. The other, often called Spergularia Marina, is larger in every respect and has fleshy leaves. For medicinal purposes the one most used is found in Malta, Sicily and Algiers, growing in dry sandy soil from Quebec to Virginia. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---An annual or biennial plant, glabrous or with a short viscid down in the upper parts; numerous stems branching from the base forming prostrate tufts 3 to 6 inches long; leaves narrow, linear; very short conspicuous scarious stipules at the base. Flowers usually pink, sometimes white, but variable size; short pedicels in forked cymes, usually leafy at base. Petals shorter, rarely longer than the sepals. Seeds more or less flattened. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Long used in bladder diseases. It contains a resinous, aromatic substance which presumably is its active principle. Very valuable for calculus diseases and acute and chronic cystitis. </div> <div>  <A NAME="dos_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Dosages---Aqueous extract up to 30 grains, or of the fluid extract, 1 fluid drachm three or four times a day. Infusion, 1 OZ. to 1 pint. Its taste is saline and slightly aromatic. </div> <bR> <div> Sanicle, Wood</div> <div> Botanical: Sanicula Europaea (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Umbelliferae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Cultivation<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Part Used<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Preparations<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Poolroot. Self-Heal. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Herb. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Wood Sanicle is an umbelliferous perennial plant, common in woods and thickets and damp moist places, and generally distributel over the British Isles. It is most abundant in the middle and north of Europe and is found on the mountains of tropical Africa. It is the only representative in this country of the genus Sanicula, to which very few species are assigned. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---The root-stock (the short underground stem from which each year's new stalks grow upward) is shortly creeping and fibrous, with a few thick, brownish scales at the top, the remains of decayed leafstalks. The stem, erect, 8 inches to 2 feet high, is simple, often leafless or with a single leaf. The radical leaves are on stalks 2 to 8 inches long, the leaves themselves palmately three to five partite and divided nearly to the base of the leaf, the lobes, or divisions, often three-cleft again. The leaves are heartshaped at the base near the stalk and toothed like a saw. </div> <div> The flowers are in umbels. Each little group, or umbellule, forms a hemispherical head. The little stalks, each bearing a head of flowers, join together at one spot again to form what is termed a compound or general umbel, as in most plants of this order. In the case of the Sanicle, the umbel is said to be irregular, as the converging stalks forming these rays are often divided into two or three prongs. The flowers are pinkish-white, 1/16 inch across, the outer flowers of the umbellules being without stamens; the inner, without pistils. They blossom in May and June and are succeeded in August by roundish seeds, which are covered with prickles, causing them to adhere to everything they touch. </div> <div> The plant is glabrous and bright green, the leaves paler beneath and the stems often reddish. </div> <div> The origin of the name of this genus is the Latin word sano (I heal or cure), in reference to the medicinal virtues. </div> <div> In the Middle Ages the power of Sanicle was proverbial: </div> <div> Celuy qui sanicle a </div> <div> De mire affaire il n'a. </div> <div> and </div> <div> Qui a la Bugle et la Sanicle fait aux chirugiens la niche. </div> <div> It was as a vulnerary that this plant gained its medical reputation. Lyte and other herbalists say that it will 'make whole and sound all wounds and hurts, both inward and outward.' </div> <div> Wood Sanicle has locally often been known as Self-Heal, a name which belongs rightly to another quite distinct herb, Prunella vulgaris, belonging to the Labiate order.</div> <div>  <A NAME="cul_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Cultivation---Sanicle is generally collected from wild specimens. </div> <div> In a moist soil and a shady situation, Sanicle will thrive excellently, especially in rich soil. </div> <div> Propagation may be effected by division of roots, any time from September to March, the best time for the operation being in the autumn Plant from 8 to 9 inches apart each way. </div> <div>  <A NAME="par"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Part Used---The whole herb, collected in June and dried. Gather the herb only on a fine day, in the morning, when the sun has dried off the dew. </div> <div>  <A NAME="con_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Constituents---As yet no analysis has been made of this plant, but evidence of tannin in its several parts is afforded by the effects produced by the plant. </div> <div> In taste it is at first very bitter and astringent, afterwards acrid, and probably partakes of the poisonous acridity which is so frequent in the Umbelliferae. In the fresh leaves, the taste is very slight, but considerable in the dry leaves, and in the extract made from them. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Astringent, alterative. Sanicle is usually given in combination with other herbs in the treatment ofblood disorders, for which it is in high esteem. </div> <div> As an internal remedy, it is of great benefit in all chest and lung complaints, chronic coughs and catarrhal affections, inflammation of the bronchii, spitting of blood, and all affections of the pulmonary organs. </div> <div> As an alterative, it has a good reputation, and it is useful in leucorrhoea, dysentery, diarrhoea, etc. </div> <div> It effectually cleanses the system of morbid secretions and leaves the blood healthier and in better condition. The infusion of 1 OZ. to a pint of boiling water is taken in wineglassful doses. </div> <div> Sanicle is used as a gargle in sore throat, quinsy, and whenever an astringent gargle is required. Culpepper mentions the use of Sanicle for disease of the lungs and throat, and recommends the gargle being made from a decoction of the leaves and root in water, a little honey being added. </div> <div> In scald-head of children and all cases of rashes, the decoction or infusion forms an admirable external remedy. </div> <div> Sanicle is popularly employed in France and Germany as a remedy for profuse bleeding from the lungs, bowels, and other internal organs and for checking dysentery, the fresh juice being given in tablespoonful doses. </div> <div>  <A NAME="pre_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Preparations---Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. A strong decoction of the leaves used to be a popular remedy for bleeding piles. </div> <div> The root of an American species, Sanicula marilandica, contains resin and volatile oil, and has been used with alleged success in intermittent fever and in chorea, in doses of 10 to 60 grains. </div> <div> American Bastard Sanicle belongs, not to this genus, but to the genus Mitella, and the Bear's Ear Sanicle (Cortusa Matthiola) is likewise not a true Sanicle, being related to the Primroses and Auriculas. </div> <div> Yorkshire Sanicle is one of the names given sometimes to Butterwort, or Marsh Violet (Pinguicula vulgaris), a plant with violetcoloured flowers and thick plaintain-shaped leaves, which grow in a tuft or rosette on the ground, and to the touch are greasy, causing them to be used for application to sores and chapped hands. </div> <bR> <div> Sarsaparilla, American</div> <div> Botanical: Aralia nudicaulis (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Araliaceae</div> <div> ---Synonyms---False Sarsaparilla. Wild Sarsaparilla. Shot Bush. Small Spikenard. Wild Liquorice. Rabbit Root. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Root. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Canada to the Carolinas. </div> <div> ---Description---A herbaceous perennial, with large, tortuous, fleshy, horizontal, creeping, long roots, externally yellowy brown, from which grows a large solitary compound leaf. Leaflets oval, obovate, acute, finely serrate. Flower-stem also comes from root, naked, about 1 foot high, terminating in three small many-flowered greenish umbels, no involucres. Fruit a small, black berry the size of elderberry. The root has a sweet spicy taste, and a pleasant aromatic smell. </div> <div> ---Medicinal Action and Uses---Alterative, pectoral, diaphoretic, sudorific. Used as a substitute for Smilax Sarsaparilla is useful in pulmonary diseases and externally as a wash for indolent ulcers and shingles. It is said to be used by the Crees under the name of Rabbit Root for syphilis and as an application to recent wounds. It contains resin, oil, tannin, albumen, an acid, mucilage and cellulose. </div> <div> Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. </div> <div> Sarsaparilla, Caracao</div> <div> ---Habitat---La Guayra </div> <div> ---Description---The radicals are often very amylaceous internally and in this respect is very like Sarsaparilla papyracea, but the plant has now almost been destroyed and is difficult to obtain. The roots contain large quantities of starch. </div> <div> S. papyracea, native of Trinidad, French Guiana and North Brazil, is a near ally of S. officinalis, and like it, is only known by is leaf specimens; it is recognized by the old stems and lower branches, which instead of being cylindrical, as in most other species, always remain intensely quadrangular, their angles having very flat closely crowded prickles and leaves more membranaceous. The Rio Negro Smilax is an allied species Smilax Spruceana. This plant is known as affording Guatemala Sarsaparilla and is considered to be identical with Sarsaparilla papyracea. Smilax syphilitica is a native of New Grenada, has a smooth round stem, bearing at the knots two to four short, thick, straight prickles. Leaves 1 foot long, oblong, lanceolate, acuminate, shining, coriaceous, three nerved, ending in a long point. </div> <div> Guayaquil Sarsaparilla grows in the valleys of the Western slopes of Equatorial Andes. It appears in commerce carelessly packed in bales. The rhizome and parts of the stem often mixed with the root, the stem is round and prickly, root dark, large and coarse, with much fibre. The bark furrowed thick and not mealy in the thinner portions of the root, which is near the foot-stalks. As the root gets thicker, the bark becomes thicker, smoother and amylaceous, showing when cut a pale yellow interior. </div> <bR> <div> Sarsaparilla, Jamaica</div> <div> Botanical: Smilax ornata </div> <div> Family: N.O. Liliaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Preparations and Dosages<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dosages<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Smilax Medica. Red-bearded Sarsaparilla. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Root. </div> <div> ---Habitat---Central America, principally Costa Rica. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---This plant derived its name from being exported to Europe through Jamaica. The word Sarsaparilla comes from the Spanish Sarza, meaning a bramble, and parilla, a vine, in allusion to the thorny stems of the plant. This is a non-mealy Sarsaparilla. It is a large perennial climber, rhizome underground, large, short, knotted, with thickened nodes and roots spreading up to 6 or 8 feet long. Stems erect, semiwoody, with very sharp prickles 1/2 inch long. Leaves large, alternate stalked, almost evergreen with prominent veins, seven nerved mid-rib very strongly marked. Flowers and fruit not known. Cortex thick and brownish, with an orange red tint; when chewed it tinges the saliva, and gives a slightly bitter and mucilaginous taste, followed by a very acrid one; it contains a small proportion of starch, also a glucoside, sarsaponin, sarsapic acid, and fatty acids, palmitic, stearic, behenic, oleic and linolic. </div> <div> Jamaica Sarsaparilla was introduced in the middle of the sixteenth century as a remedy for syphilis, and later came to be used for other chronic diseases, specially rheumatism. It is a mild gastric irritant due to its saponin content. The smoke of Sarsaparilla was recommended for asthma. It is also very useful as a tonic, alterative, diaphoretic and diuretic. Its active principle is a crystalline body, Parillin or Smilacin. </div> <div>  <A NAME="pre_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Preparations and Dosages---Powdered root, 1/2 to 1 drachm. Fluid extract, U.S.P., 1/2 to 1 drachm. Fluid extract, B.P., 2 to 4 drachms. Solid extract, 10 to 20 grains. Compound solution, 2 to 8 drachms. Compound syrup, U.S.P., 4 drachms. </div> <div> Smilax officinalis has a twining stem, angular and prickly; young shoots unarmed; leaves ovate, oblong, acute, cordate, smooth, 1 foot long; petioles 1 inch long, having tendrils above the base. This plant grows in New Granada, on the banks of Magdaline near Bajorgne. Commercially it consists of very long roots, with a thick bark, grey or brown colour. Almost odourless. Taste mucilaginous. The deep orange-tinted roots are the best. </div> <div>  <A NAME="con_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Constituents---Salseparin, starch, colouring matter, essential oil chloride of potassium, bassorin, albumen, pectic and ascitic acids, and salts of lime, oxide of iron, potassa and magnesia. It is said to be the source of Honduras Sarsaparilla and is considered the best of all Sarsaparillas. It is exported from the bay of Honduras in over 2 feet long roots folded into a sort of hank, with a few rootlets attached, grey or reddy brown, with mealy cortex. It has the same properties as the other varieties, but if alcohol is added to the infusions of the root it will greatly increase their medicinal qualities. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Alterative, tonic. Used in chronic skin diseases, rheumatism, passive dropsy. </div> <div>  <A NAME="dos_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Dosages---Powder, 20 grains. Infusion or syrup, 4 fluid ounces. </div> <bR> <div> Sarsaparilla, Indian</div> <div> Botanical: Hemidesmus Indica </div> <div> Family: N.O. Asclepiadaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Constituents<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Hemidesmus. Periploca Indica. Nunnari Asclepias. Pseudosarsa. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Dried root. </div> <div> ---Habitat---All parts of India, the Moluccas, and Ceylon. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---A climbing slender plant with twining woody stems, and a rust-coloured bark, leaves opposite, petiolate, entire, smooth, shiny and firm, varying in shape and size according to their age. Flowers small green outside, deep purple inside, in axillary, sessile racemes, imbricated with flowers, followed with scale-like bracts. Fruit two long slender spreading follicles. </div> <div> This plant has long been used in India as an antisyphilitic in place of Sarsaparilla, but was not introduced into England till 1831. The root is long, tortuous, rigid, cylindrical, little branched, consisting of aligneous centre, a brownish corky bark, furrowed and with annular cracks, odour aromatic, probably due to Coumarin and not unlike Sassafras or new-mown hay, with a bitter, sweetish, feeble aromatic taste. One side of the root is sometimes separated from the cork and raised above the cortex and transversely fissured, showing numerous laticiferous cells in the cortex. </div> <div>  <A NAME="con_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Constituents---Unknown. No satisfactory investigation has yet been made of the chemical properties. But a volatile oil has been found in it and a peculiar crystallizable principle, called by some Hemidesmine; others suggest that the substance is only a stearoptene. It also contains some starch, saponin, and in the suberous layer tannic acid. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Alterative, tonic and diuretic. Useful for rheumatism, scrofula, skin diseases and thrush; it is used as an infusion, but not as a decoction as boiling dissipates its active volatile principle. Two OZ. of the root are infused in 1 pint of boiling water and left standing for 1 hour then strained off and drunk in 24 hours. </div> <div> It has been successfully used in the cure of venereal disease, proving efficacious where American Sarsaparilla has failed. Native doctors utilize it in nephritic complaints and for sore mouths of children. </div> <div> Syrup, B.P., 1/2 to 1 drachm. </div> <div> Particularly indicated for inveterate syphilis, pseudo-syphilis, mescurio-syphilis and struma in all its forms. Also valuable in gonorrhoeal neuralgia and other depraved conditions of the system as well as for other diseases treated by other varieties. </div> <div> Powder, 30 grains three times daily. Infusion or syrup, 4 fluid ounces. </div> <div> ---An Alterative Mixture--- </div> <div> 1 lb. Rio Negro Sarsaparilla root, or in place of it Stillingia Sylvatica; 6 OZ. rasped guaiac wood; aniseed and liquorice root bruised 2 OZ. of each; 1 lb. molasses; 1 OZ. Mezereon root-bark and 6 Cloves. Put all these into 2 gallons of boiling water and shake vessel well. When fermentation starts, take 4 fluid ounces three times daily. </div> <bR> <div> Sarsaparilla, Wild</div> <div> Botanical: Aralia nudicaulis (LINN.) </div> <div> Family: N.O. Araliaceae</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Description<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Medicinal Action and Uses<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Other Species<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#6633CC" FACE="BlackChancery" > </FONT></div> <div> ---Synonyms---Bamboo Brier. Smilax Sarsaparilla. </div> <div> ---Part Used---Root. </div> <div> ---Habitat---A native of the southern United States and grows in swampy woods and thickets. </div> <div>  <A NAME="des_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Description---It has a stout, flexuous and square stem, with a few hooked prickles above. Leaves unarmed, elliptical-ovate, cuspidate, abruptly contracted at each end; three strong veins, two lateral smaller secondary ones; underside glaucous, 3 inches diameter, on short margined petioles, with two long tendrils at their bases. Flowers yellowish-white, appearing May to August, in small thin umbels of three or four red or black berries, three-seeded. </div> <div>  <A NAME="med_12"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>---Medicinal Action and Uses---Alterative, tonic, antisyphilitic. Said to be infer