[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #72: Bulrush
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Bulrush
Also known as reedmace
Typha latifolia L.
A waterside plant growing over 2 metres in height which bears dark brown spikes, which are developing seedheads, from June and July. The closely related lesser bulrush (Typha angustifolia) is rare outside of lowland England. The rhizomes are edible, and rich in starch.
In the southern Highlands, it was once used as a cure for epilepsy. Allen and Hatfield describe a ritualistic use for the plant – it was gathered on Midsummer at midnight and wrapped in a shroud – a plant kept in such a way ensured freedom from ailment for life.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #71: Bugle
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Bugle
Ajuga reptans
Also known as carpenter’s herb, sicklewort and middle comfrey
A plant of damp meadows and woods, bearing small spikes of purplish blue flowers in May and June. Bugle has dark shining purple leaves, and is very tolerant of shade. Seeds were present in a Bronze Age context at Northwold in Norfolk, where they were evidence of a woodland environment in the vicinity.
In the 17th century it was an ingredient of the ‘Traumatick Decoction’, a wound-healing drink, and, as it has astringent properties, has also been made into an ointment to treat ulcers and bruises.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #70: Buckthorn, Purging
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Buckthorn, Purging
Rhamnus cathartica L.
Also known as buckthorn, or common buckthorn
A spiny, grey-barked shrub of calcium-rich soils, native to England and Wales that can grow to a height of 10 metres. It has glossy, dark green toothed leaves that turn yellow in autumn. As the common name suggests, its berries have been used as a purgative. They can be used as a syrup, Syrup of Buckthorn, with the addition of sugar and aromatics. The berries are so strongly purgative that Allen and Hatfield say that from the eighteenth century, physicians advised against its use. The bark and unripe berries yield yellow dye.
Purging buckthorn charcoal is known from Three Holes Cave in Devon, from Neolithic contexts at Maiden Castle in Dorset, and at Stonehenge, Gravelly Guy in Oxfordshire, and Brean Down in Somerset. Waterlogged buckthorn wood was found in Neolithic and Bronze Age deposits at Meare Heath in Somerset.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #69: Buckthorn, Alder
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Alder blackthorn (Frangula alnus). Photo by By Sten Porse – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13269683
Buckthorn, Alder
Frangula alnus Mill.
Also known as black dogwood
A black-barked shrub of marshy places, often found near alder trees. Alder buckthorn bears berries which while unripe yield a green dye, once used by calico printers. Despite its name, the plant is thornless. Charcoal made from the stems gives a very even burn, and occasionally the species is present in charcoal assemblages, for example in the Late Prehistoric site at Blackhorse, Honiton, Devon; Tinney’s in Somerset; and the oppidum at Silchester. Worked wood of alder buckthorn was found within peats at Storrs Moss, near Carnforth. Edlin’s 1949 Woodland Crafts in Britain states that alder buckthorn charcoal was by far the best for making gunpowder.
According to the 16th century herbalist John Gerard, an infusion of the bark was used as a purgative and emetic. Mrs Grieves cautions that aged bark should be used, as freshly stripped bark can be an irritant on the gastro-intestinal canal. The glucoside emodin (also found in rhubarb) is found in the bark, and has laxative properties.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #68: Bryony, White
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Bryonia dioica, photo by H. Zell – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Bryony, White
Bryonia dioica Jacq. non M.Bieb. non Bojer non Sessé & Moc.
Also known as wild nepit, English mandrake, tamus, ladies seal, wild vine
A relative of the cucumber, white bryony is a vigorous climber in hedgerows and is common in farmyards. In early summer it bears green-yellow flowers with five petals. Male flowers are on separate plants to female plants. Unusually,the tendrils which latch onto the hedge for support change the direction of their coil part way through. The plant is very poisonous, and bears red berries in September, these are strongly purgative and can lead to death. Its large,poisonous yellow roots have been sold as a cheap substitute for mandrake, a herb valued for its magical and aphrodisiac properties (according to Dr RCA Prior’s On The Popular Names of British Plants, sometimes they were sold as such fraudulently, having been cut to the shape of a man or woman). Allen and Hatfield write that in the Fens of East Anglia, it was paired with black bryony as the ‘female’ and ’male’ forms respectively of mandrake.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #67: Bryony, Black
In 2023, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Dioscorea communis, by Carsten Niehaus (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Bryony, Black
Dioscorea communis (L.) Caddick & Wilkin
Also known as lady’s seal
A climbing plant that grows 2 – 5m tall, and twines anticlockwise, bearing large, heart-shaped leaves. It has inconspicuous flowers which give way to red berries. The whole plant is extremely poisonous, having a high saponin content, although its roots have been used externally as a poultice for bruises. It is introduced in Ireland.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #66: Broom, Butcher’s
In 2022, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Ruscus aculeatus, from Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany. From www.biolib.de (Public Domain)
Broom, Butcher’s
Ruscus aculeatus (L.)
Also known as kneeholy, knee holly, kneeholm, Jew’s myrtle, sweet broom, pettigree.
An evergreen shrub of dry woods in England and Wales, butcher’s broom bears green-white flowers in late winter and early spring, and red berries. Its name derives from the fact it was made into brooms by butchers, who found its prickly leaves ideal for cleaning chopping boards. The young shoots have been eaten as a vegetable. A decoction of its rhizomes was recommended in classical tradition as a diuretic, while it is also a source of ruscogenin, an anti-inflammatory.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #65: Broom
In 2022, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Broom flowers, by Danny S. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Broom
Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link
Also known as common broom, Scotch broom, broom tops, Irish tops, basam, bisom, bizzom, browme, brum, breeam, green broom
A dense shrub of acidic heaths with sandy soils, bearing golden yellow flowers in late spring and early summer. Broom was once known as Planta genista and was the emblem of Geoffrey, Duke of Anjou, father of the English king Henry II, who names his family the Plantagenets after it. Broom contains sparteine, an effective diuretic, and so an infusion of the young green shoots was recommended by herbalists for kidney troubles. In modern herbalism, it is used to slow the heart. Broom twigs have been used for making brushes, and also for thatching, while a fibre can be made of the bark by macerating it in water. The bark is also rich in tannins. Broom wood can be used for veneering. Broom tops can be used in place of hops to add bitterness to beer. The leaves and young tops yield a green dye.
In the 19th Century, it was seen as bad luck during the month of May, and should not be brought into a house, or used for brushing floors, during this time. According to Mrs Grieves, there is a Suffolk rhyme:
‘If you sweep the house with blossomed Broom in May
You are sure to sweep the head of the house away.’
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #64: Brooklime
In 2022, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Brooklime
Veronica beccabunga L.
Also known as brooklyme
A relative of speedwells, brooklime’s spikes of dark blue flowers emerge from fleshy, shiny rounded leaves in muddy places beside streams, ditches and ponds. The bitter leaves of brooklime have been used in salads and were once used to cure scurvy. It was also used as a diuretic and for curing colds and coughs in Ireland.Its English name comes from its habit of growing in the mud of brooks, the word lime (as applied to the building material) being derived from the Latin for mud, limus.
[An Archaeologist’s Guide to British Species] #63: Brome
In 2022, I am continuing to blog an A-Z compendium of human interactions with species in the British landscape. A list of references for information used in this series can be found here. An index of species covered so far can be found here.
Brome
Bromus spp.
Bromus is a large genus of grasses found across the temperate world. They were occasionally eaten in various parts of the world, but are not generally considered food plants. Brome may have been eaten in Britain in the past, and it has been found among cereal remains at many sites. It is generally likely to have been a chance inclusion in grain harvests, however, and is sometimes a component of winnowing waste. At late Neolithic Llandevenny, charred Bromus seeds were present in a wetland context where the plant would not have grown, the reasons for this were not clear but may have been due to human activity or the presence of the seeds in animal dung burnt for fuel.
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