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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. |