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CINQUEFOIL POTENTILLA
REPTANS Some one holds that one leaf cures a quotidian, three a tertian, and four a quartan ague, and a hundred to one if it be not Dioscorides, for he is full of whimsies. This herb, also called Creeping Cinquefoil, Five-leaved Grass or Five- fingered Grass, spreads and creeps upon the ground with long slender strings like Strawberries, which take root again and shoot forth many leaves made of five parts, sometimes seven. I t bears many small yellow flowers. Where to find it: Meadows, pastures and by hedgerows and woodland edges. Flowering time: Summer. Astrology: A herb of Jupiter and therefore strengthens the part of the body it rules. Medicinal virtues: Give but a scruple (20 grains / 1.3 g) at a time in white wine or wine vinegar and you shall seldom miss the cure of an ague. It is used in all inflammations and fevers, whether infectious or pestilential and in lotions, gargles and the like, for sore mouths, ulcers, cancers, fistulas and other corrupt, foul or running sores. The juice, about four ounces (100 g) at a time for several days cureth the quinsy and yellow jaundice; and for thirty days, cureth the failing-sickness. The roots boiled in milk and drunk is a most effectual remedy for. all fluxes in man or woman, whether the white or red, as also the bloody flux. The juice or decoction of the roots taken with honey helpeth the hoarseness of the throat and is good for a cough of the lungs. Boiled in vinegar, the root helpeth all knots, kernels, hard swellings and lumps in any part of the flesh, and also shingles. Boiled in wine it can be applied to painful joints, and drunk to cure the gout and sciatica and to ease pain in the bowels. Modern uses: An infusion of 1 oz 28 g) of herb to 1 pt (568 ml) of boiling water is given in doses of 2 fl OZ (56 ml) to check loose bowels, and also used as an astringent lotion or gargle for sore throats. |
