Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)

subsection 3

AN IRISH TRADITION?

There are some items in the Irish text in respect of which no Latin sources have been found. These items include:

  1. athair talmun, yarrow, Achillea millefolium (this one features some action at a distance);
  2. bilur muire, brook lime, Veronica beccabunga;
  3. brisclan, silverweed, Potentilla anserina;
  4. caisearban bec, devil's bit scabious, Succisa pratensis;
  5. curnan caisil, wall pennywort, Umbilicus rupestris;
  6. easbuc beoain, ox-eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare;
  7. eigheann talman, ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea;
  8. eilitreog, orach, Atriplex patula;
  9. finscoth, hound's tongue, Cynoglossum officinale-;

    10. p.58

  10. flidh, chickweed, Stellaria media;
  11. fotlacht, narrow-leaved water parsnip, Berula erecta;
  12. gluineach bec, knot-grass, Polygonum aviculare;
  13. lus creidhe, burnet saxifrage, Pimpinella saxifraga;
  14. lus na cnam mbristi, comfrey, Symphytum officinale;
  15. lus na sum talman, wild strawberry, Fragaria vesca;
  16. rinn ruisc, scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis;
  17. ros lachan, common duckweed, Lemna minor;
  18. saileach, willow, Salix spec.;
  19. serban muc, sow-thistle, Sonchus oleraceus;
  20. sidual, setwall, Valeriana pyrenaica; the wild sort is Valeriana officinalis; in this chapter, there appears to be reference to distillation, where it is said to make a ‘water’ of the herb as is done in the case of rose-water;
  21. soibirgin, cowslip, Primula veris;
  22. soilisdur, yellow flag, Iris pseudacorus.

Apart from Valeriana pyrenaica, which is not native to Ireland and was grown in gardens, these plants are all common Irish plants. In nearly every case, the article dealing with the plant includes more or less elaborate recipes (a feature which is not characteristic either of Circa Instans or of Ó Cuinn's text generally) and the ingredients recommended are nearly all commonly available Irish plants. It is likely that in these cases, or in most of them, Ó Cuinn was drawing on a purely Irish tradition.

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An Irish Materia Medica

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