|
|
 | Mustard (Hedge) Other Names: Singer's Plant. St. Barbara's Hedge Mustard
Botanical Name: Sisymbrium officinale
Family: N.O. Cruciferae |
Description: |
The Common Hedge Mustard grows by our roadsides and on waste ground, where it is a common weed, with a peculiar aptitude for collecting and retaining dust. The blackish-green stalks, slender but tough, are branched and rough, the leaves hairy, deeplylobed, with their points turned backwards, the terminal lobe larger. The yellow flowers are small and insignificant, placed at the top of the branches in long spikes, flowering by degrees throughout July. The pods are downy, close pressed to the stem and contain yellow, acrid seeds.
This plant is named by the French the 'Singer's Plant,' it having been considered up to the time of Louis XIV an infallible remedy for loss of voice. Racine, in writing to Boileau, recommends him to try the syrup of Erysimum in order to be cured of voicelessness. A strong infusion of the whole plant used to be taken in former days for all diseases of the throat. |
Ancient Lore: |
MUSTARD (Hedge)
SISYMBRIUM OFFICINALE
By the use of the decoction a lost voice has been recovered.
An annual plant growing to one or two feet (30 to 60cm) with a blackish-green stalk with rugged leaves and small yellow flowers in long spikes. These flower by degrees so that the plant is in flower over a longish period. The yellow seed is sharp and strong to the taste.
Where to find it: By hedge-sides and on waste ground and at the roadside.
Flowering time: Midsummer.
Astrology: Mars owns this herb.
Medicinal virtues: It is used for hoarseness and diseases of the chest and lungs. A decoction of the plant is taken or the juice made into a syrup with honey and sugar. It is profitable for coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath and, if used in clysters, for jaundice, pleurisy, pains in the back and loins, and colic.
The seed is a remedy against poison and venom, and worms in children. It is good for sciatica, aching joints, ulcers and cankers in the mouth, throat, or behind the ears and for hardness and swelling of the testicles or of women's breasts.
Modern uses: The whole plant is used as an expectorant for coughs and to relieve hoarseness. It has an affinity for the vocal chords. An infusion of 1 oz (28 g) of the dried leaves to 1 Pt (568 ml) of boiling water can be taken in doses Of 2 fl Oz (56 ml), three or four times a day. |
|
|