Pellitory of Spain

Common Pellitory of Spain, if it be planted in our gardens, will prosper very well; yet there is one sort growing ordinarily here wild, which I esteem to be little inferior to the other, if at all. I shall not deny you the description of them both.

Descript : Common Pellitory is a very common plant, and will not be kept in our gardens without diligent looking to. The root goes down right into the ground bearing leaves, being long and finely cut upon the stalk, lying on the ground, much larger than the leaves of the Camomile are. At the top it bears one single large flower at a place, having a border of many leaves, white on the upper side, and reddish underneath, with a yellow thrum in the middle, not standing so close as that of Camomile.

The other common Pellitory which grows here, hath a root of a sharp biting taste, scarcely discernible by the taste from that before described, from whence arise divers brittle stalks, a yard high and more, with narrow leaves finely dented about the edges, standing one above another up to the tops. The flowers are many and white, standing in tufts like those of Yarrow, with a small yellowish thrum in the middle. The seed is very small.

Place : The last grows in fields by the hedge sides and paths, almost everywhere.

Time : It flowers at the latter end of June and July.

Government and virtues : It is under the government of Mercury, and I am persuaded it is one of the best purgers of the brain that grows. An ounce of the juice taken in a draught of Muskadel an hour before the fit of the ague comes, it will assuredly drive away the ague at the second or third time taken at the farthest. Either the herb or root dried and chewed in the mouth, purges the brain of phlegmatic humours; thereby not only easing pains in the head and teeth, but also hinders the distilling of the brain upon the lungs and eyes, thereby preventing coughs, phthisicks and consumption, the apoplexy and falling sickness. It is an excellently approved remedy in the lethargy. The powder of the herb or root being snuffed up the nostrils, procures sneezing, and eases the head-ache; being made into an ointment with hog's grease, it takes away black and blue spots occasioned by blows or falls, and helps both the gout and sciatica.