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Examples
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_Sambucus ebulus_, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort -- among the rubbish and ruined foundations of the Priory.
The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 Gilbert White 1756
chained_bear commented on the word walwort
"Once the fistula was laid open, there was the problem of stopping the flow of blood. The surgeon could employ the standard exotic styptics, such as dragon's blood (copy/paste this link for more: (wordnik.com/words/dragon's%20blood), Armenian bole (a kind of yellow compacted earth), or Arabian hepatic aloes. Or he might have recourse to more homey remedies: the herb walwort (Parietaria officinalis), burned chicken feathers, or powder made from a hare burned with old linen cloth. John tells surgeons to use more expensive and 'noble' medicines for the aristocracy, but he says explicitly that the domestic products will work equally well if not better. He credits walwort in particular with excellent healing powers. ..."
Paul Freedman, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2008), 70
November 28, 2017