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 | Strawberry Other Names:
Botanical Name: Fragaria vesca
Family: N.O. Rosaceae |
Description: |
The Wild Strawberry, a delicate, thin-leaved plant, with small, scarlet berries, cone-shaped and studded with tiny, brown 'seeds,' has a fragrance and flavour more delicate even than the cultivated Strawberry. It chooses a slightly sheltered position, and, being very small, considerable labour goes to the collection of its fruit, which is much more used and appreciated in France than in Great Britain.
1629 is the date assigned to the introduction of the Scarlet Strawberry from Virginia, and the earliest mention of the Strawberry in English writings is in a Saxon plant list of the tenth century, and in 1265 the 'Straberie' is mentioned in the household roll of the Countess of Leicester. 'Strabery ripe,' together with 'Gode Peascode' and 'Cherrys in the ryse,' were some of the London cries mentioned by Lydgate in the fifteenth century. Ben Jonson, in a play written in 1603, speaks of:
'A pot of Strawberries gathered in the wood
To mingle with your cream.'
The common idea that the word Strawberry is derived from the habit of placing straw under the cultivated plants when the berries are ripening is quite erroneous. The name is older than this custom, and preserves the obsolete preterit 'straw' of the verb 'to strew,' referring to the tangle of vines with which the Strawberry covers the ground. |
Habitat: |
| The whole of the Northern Hemisphere, exclusive of the tropics. |
Constituents: |
Cissotanic, malic, and citric acids, sugar, mucilage and a peculiar volatile aromatic body uninvestigated.
Bacon found in the odour of the dying leaves 'a most excellent cordial smell,' next in sweetness to the muskrose and violet.
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Medicinal Usage: |
Laxative, diuretic, astringent. Both the leaves and the fruit were in early pharmacopoeias, though the leaves were mostly used. The fruit contains malic and citric acids, a volatile matter, sugar, mucilage, pectin, woody fibre and water. It is easily digested and is not subject to acetous fermentation in the stomach. In feverish conditions the fruit is invaluable, and is also recommended for stone. Strawberry vitamins are of value in sprue. Culpepper declares the plant to be 'singularly good for the healing of many ills,' but Linnaeus was the first to discover and prove the efficacy of the berries as a cure for rheumatic gout.
The root is astringent and used in diarrhoea. The leaves have the same property, and a tea made from them checks dysentery. The stalks only entered into the composition of the once-famous Antioch drink and vulnerary. Some recipes order that the drink should be prepared between the feasts of St. Philip and St. James and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
The Strawberry is a useful dentifrice and cosmetic. The fresh fruit removes discoloration of the teeth if the juice is allowed toremain on for about five minutes and the teeth are then cleansed with warm water, to which a pinch of bicarbonate of soda has been added. A cut Strawberry rubbed over the face immediately after washing will whiten the skin and remove slight sunburn. For a badly sunburnt face it is recommended to rub the juice well into the skin, to leave it on for half an hour, and then wash off with warm water to which a few drops of simple tincture of benzoin have been added; no soap should be used. |
Ancient Lore: |
STRAWBERRIES FRAGARIA VESCA
The juice or water is singularly good for hot or in,flamed eyes, if dropped into them, or bathed therewith.
Strawberries are the well-known fruits produced by cultivated and wild low-growing perennial creeping plants.
Where to find it: Outside of gardens, they are found in woods and shady places, hedgerows and roadsides.
Flowering time: Late spring to midsummer.
Astrology: Venus owns the herb.
Medicinal virtues: The berries cool the liver, blood and spleen, or a hot choleric stomach. They refresh and comfort fainting spirits and quench the thirst. They are good for inflammations, but it is best to refrain from them in a fever, lest they putrefy in the stomach and increase the fits.The roots and leaves boiled in wine and water, and drank, cool the liver and blood and assuage inflammation in the reins and bladder, provoke urine and allay heat and sharpness. This drink also stays the bloody flux and women's courses and helps the swelling of the spleen.
The water of the berries, distilled, is a remedy and cordial in the panting and beating of the heart, and good for the jaundice. The juice can he dropped into foul ulcers or used as a wash, or the decoction of the herb and root, cleanses and helps to cure them. Lotions and gargles for sore mouths, or ulcers in the mouth, or privy parts are made with the leaves and roots.
Modern uses: The leaves are astringent and may be used in the form of an infusion - i oz (28 g) to 1 Pt (563 mi) of boiling water - to check simple diarrhoea. This infusion is also diuretic and is useful in the treatment of urinary tract inflammation. A decoction of the roots has similar properties. An ounce (28 g) of root is boiled for about ten minutes in a pint of water and strained. This also makes a useful gargle for a sore throat and a vaginal douche to check simple discharges.The fruits are rich in vitamin C and iron and make a pleasant supplement for the anaemic. |
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