Medicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants

Medicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants

BY

DAVID ELLIS

D.Sc. Ph.D. F.R.S.E.

1918

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A Short History of Herbalism

Herbalism (‘herbology’ or ‘herbal medicine’) is the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and the study of such use. It covers all sorts of medicinal plants, natural remedies or cures, traditional and alternative medicines. Modern medicine tends to categorise herbalism firmly as an ‘alternative therapy’ as its practice is not strictly based on evidence gathered using the scientific method. Modern medicine does make use of many plant-derived compounds however, as the basis for evidence-tested pharmaceutical drugs. Phytotherapy also works to apply modern standards of effectiveness testing to medicines derived from natural sources.

Medicinal plants have been identified and used throughout human history. Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of medicinal plants dates at least to the Paleolithic age, approximately 60,000 years ago. Written evidence of herbal remedies dates back over 5,000 years to the Sumeranians, who created long lists of useful plants. A number of ancient cultures wrote on plants and their medical uses. In ancient Egypt, herbs are mentioned in Egyptian medical papyri, depicted in tomb illustrations, or on rare occasions found in medical jars containing trace amounts of herbs. The earliest known Greek ‘herbals’ were those of Diodes of Carystus, written during the third century BC, and one by Krateuas from the first century BC. Only a few fragments of these works have survived intact, but from what remains scholars have noted that there is a large amount of overlap with the Egyptian herbals.

Seeds likely used for herbalism have been found in archaeological sites of Bronze Age China dating from the Shang Dynasty, and herbs were also common in the medicine of ancient India, where the principal treatment for diseases was diet. De Materia Medica (an encyclopaedia and pharmacopoeia of herbs and medicines), written between 50 and 70 AD by a Roman physician, Pedanius Dioscorides, is a particularly important example of such writings; focused on the diet and ‘natural remedies.’ The documentation of herbs and their uses was a central part of both Western and Eastern medical scholarship through to the eighteenth century, and these works played an important role in the development of the science of botany too. Dandelion for instance, was used as an effective laxative and diuretic, and as a treatment for bile or liver problems, whilst the essential oil of common thyme was (and is) utilised as a powerful antiseptic and antifungal. Before the advent of modern antibiotics, oil of thyme was additionally used to medicate bandages.

The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the great ages of herbal remedies; with many corresponding texts being published. The first ‘Herbal’ to be published in English was the anonymous Grete Herball of 1526. The two best-known herbals in English were The Herball or General History of Plants (1597) by John Gerard and The English Physician Enlarged (1653) by Nicholas Culpeper. Culpeper’s blend of traditional medicine with astrology, magic and folklore was ridiculed by the physicians of his day, yet his book - like Gerard’s and other herbals, enjoyed phenomenal popularity. Natural medicines gradually waned in popularity as the 1900s progressed however, and the twentieth century also saw the slow erosion of plants as the pre-eminent sources of therapeutic effects.

Despite this, today the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that eighty percent of the population of some Asian and African countries use herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Pharmaceuticals are prohibitively expensive for most of the world’s inhabitants, half of which lives on less than two American dollars a day. In comparison, herbal medicines can be grown from seed or gathered from nature at little or no cost. In actual fact, many of the pharmaceuticals currently available to physicians have a long history of use as herbal remedies, including opium, aspirin, digitalis and quinine. As is evident from this incredibly short history of herbalism and natural plant remedies—it is an aspect of human medicine with an incredibly long, varied and intriguing record. With many such traditional cures still used in the present; the multifaceted uses of plants continues to surprise us. We hope the reader enjoys this book.

PREFACE

In the course of his work the writer comes in contact with a large number of people who are interested in Botany as a recreation and a change from the work by which they make their living. It is noteworthy with such students that interest in a plant is considerably quickened when it can be shown that the plant in question possesses either medicinal or poisonous properties. This would seem to indicate the need for a book which would impart useful information and at the same time emphasize the paramount importance of scientific training. Since the outbreak of the present War the number of amateur botanists in large centres like Glasgow has considerably increased. The interest of some has been aroused by the patriotic efforts of such organizations as the National Herb-growing Association; others, having become plot-holders, deem a scientific groundwork in Botany a matter of urgent necessity; still others are attracted by the enhanced prices paid for drugs which before the War were imported from Germany because we could not be bothered, or because it did not pay, to cultivate or collect the plants in this country. Hence, in the case of the more important British drug plants, after the salient features have been described, an account is given of the cultivation, source of supply, present and former price, and other details bearing upon the commercial aspect of the subject. In this connection the author has received much help from Mr. Wren, of Messrs. Potter & Clarke, who has kindly allowed his knowledge to be laid under contribution. Among medicinal plants have been included the various herbs that are imported or collected for the herbalist. Whilst the medicinal value of a large number of these herbs must be regarded as very doubtful, the fact that many of them are imported by the ton suggests that, to many people at any rate, they rank as medicinal plants, although their insertion in these pages is a concession to their commercial rather than their intrinsic value.

A work descriptive of poisonous plants obviously calls for no apology. It is justified from the point of view of personal protection alone. When one realizes the awful things which children attempt to masticate and swallow, the dissemination of a knowledge of poisonous plants seems a necessity. Again, even in these days, dabbling in herbs for curative purposes is by no means uncommon, and to the eyes of those ignorant of Botany several quite different plants appear to be identical. This occasionally gives rise to serious mistakes.

The diagrams have been drawn with a view to enabling the student to identify the plant in the field by fixing attention on the most outstanding features in its structure, or on some marked peculiarity exhibited by the plant. Such helps are invaluable in field work, and greatly facilitate the subsequent process of finding the Natural Order to which any particular plant belongs.

An inclusion of all the plants that at one time or another have been regarded as possessing medicinal properties would embrace a very large number of plants that are now known to be worthless, and so these are not mentioned. The scope of the present work also does not allow of the treatment of the medicinal or poisonous plants that are found among the Cryptogams.

It was deemed expedient to place under a separate chapter all those poisonous and medicinal plants which grow as trees or large shrubs, even though this necessitated grouping together a collection of plants drawn from the four corners of the phanerogamic kingdom. This plan was found to be the more convenient because it made possible the introduction into the text of the Gymnosperms that possessed medicinal properties. In themselves their small number did not justify the inclusion of the Gymnosperms in the Tables of Classification, more especially as their inclusion would have added considerably to the complexity of the Tables.

In the preparation of this book the chief writers whose publications were laid under contribution were Holmes, Shenstone, Sowerby, Greenish, Southall, Bentham and Hooker, Glaister, and Henslow. Finally, my grateful thanks are due to Miss Margaret Irwin for revising my manuscript, and to my wife for help in preparing the diagrams.

DAVID ELLIS.

ROYAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE,

GLASGOW.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Structure of the Flower—Study of Buttercup, Foxglove, and Snowdrop—Hypogyny, Perigyny, and Epigyny—Study of Wild Rose—Classification of Plants—Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons—Table for Monocotyledons—Table for Incomplete (Dicotyledons)—Classification of Poisons

CHAPTER II

Physiology of Plants: Bearing on Formation of Drugs and Poisons—Waste Products, Reserve Products, Intermediate Products, End-products of Metabolism—Alkaloids, Aromatic Substances, Resins, Balsams, Gum-resins, Ethereal Oils, Fats

CHAPTER III

MONOCOTYLEDONS

Liliaceæ (Meadow Saffron, Lily of the Valley, Herb Paris, Bluebell, the Hellebores)

Aroideæ (Lords and Ladies, Sweet Flag)

Gramineæ (Couch Grass)

Amaryllidaceæ (Daffodil)

Dioscoreaceæ (Black Bryony)

Iridaceæ (Yellow Flag, Saffron Crocus)

CHAPTER IV

DICOTYLEDONS: INCOMPLETÆ

Euphorbiaceæ (The Spurges, Box, Dog’s Mercury)

Urticaceæ (Stinging Nettle, Hop, Pellitory of the Wall)

Polygonaceæ (Rhubarb, Bistort, Buckwheat, Dock)

Chenopodiaceæ (Good King Henry)

CHAPTER V

DICOTYLEDONS: POLYPETALÆ I

Ranunculaceæ (Traveller’s Joy, Wood Anemone, Field Buttercup, Bulbous and Creeping Crowfoot, Spearwort, Lesser Celandine, Celery-leaved Ranunculus, Water Crowfoot, Marsh Marigold, the Hellebores, Monkshood, Columbine, Larkspur)

Papaveraceæ (Opium Poppy, Field Poppy, Greater Celandine)

Violaceæ (Sweet Violet)

Cruciferæ (Horse Radish, the Mustards)

Caryophyllaceæ (Soapwort, Corn Cockle, Lesser Stitchwort)

CHAPTER VI

DICOTYLEDONS: POLYPETALÆ II

Leguminosæ (Laburnum, Broom, Lupin, Scarlet Runner, Yellow Vetchling, Melilot)

Rosaceæ (Almond Group, Meadow-sweet Group, Strawberry Group, Burnet Group, Rose Group, Apple Group)

Umbelliferæ (Poison Hemlock, Water Hemlock, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Common Water Dropwort, Cow Parsnip, Wild Carrot, Water Parsnip, Beaked Parsley, Dill, Garden Angelica, Common Fennel, Anise, Caraway, Coriander, Celery)

Araliaceæ (Ivy)

CHAPTER VII

DICOTYLEDONS: GAMOPETALÆ I

Scrophulariaceæ (Foxglove, Great Mullein, Figwort, Toadflax, Lousewort, Cow Wheat)

Labiatæ (Lavenders, Mints, Wild Marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Balm)

Ericaceæ (Rhododendron, Azalea, Kalmia, Labrador Tea, Marsh Tea, Bearberry)

CHAPTER VIII

DICOTYLEDONS: GAMOPETALÆ II

Primulaceæ (Primula Group, Cyclamen, Scarlet Pimpernel)

Gentianaceæ (Yellow Gentian, Common Centaury, Bog-bean)

Boraginaceæ (Comfrey, Alkanet)

Convolvulaceæ

Solanaceæ (Woody Nightshade, Black Nightshade, Potato, Deadly Nightshade, Henbane, Thorn Apple)

CHAPTER IX

DICOTYLEDONS: GAMOPETALÆ III

Campanulaceæ (Lobelia)

Compositæ (Wormwood, Southernwood, Lettuce, Dandelion, Burdock, Elecampane, Marigold, Chamomile, Yarrow, Coltsfoot, Tansy, Agrimony)

Rubiaceæ (Goosegrass, Woodruff)

Caprifoliaceæ (Elder, Guelder Rose)

Valerianaceæ (Great Wild Valerian)

CHAPTER X

TREES AND SHRUBS

Oak, Beech, Yew, Common Juniper, Larch, Laburnum, Common Laurel, Bay Laurel, Spurge Laurel, Elder, Guelder Rose

APPENDIX

INDEX

MEDICINAL HERBS AND POISONOUS PLANTS

CHAPTER I

THE STRUCTURE OF THE FLOWER

Some knowledge of the structure of flowers is a necessary qualification for the study of poisonous and medicinal plants, for many plants can be identified by their flowers, and in many cases difficulties of identification can be solved by an appeal to the flower. Let us take for an example a common flower like the Buttercup and dissect it. The reader should compare a living specimen of this flower with fig. 1 and make certain that he can identify all the parts.

Each complete flower consists of four different structures arranged in whorls at the apex of a stalk. The two outermost beginning from the outside are called respectively the calyx and the corolla. The calyx consists of sepals, and the corolla of petals. Thus in the Buttercup the calyx consists of five green sepals, and the corolla of five yellow petals. Inside the corolla are the stamens; each of these is composed of a stalk which supports at its end an expanded structure called the anther. The last-named contains the pollen grains; these are liberated when ripe by the splitting of the anther, In the Buttercup the stamens are numerous. Removing the stamens, a small globular head will be left behind. This is the pistil, which in this case is not a single body, but is made up of an aggregation of similar structures. Each of these is called a carpel. We therefore speak of the pistil of