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Gerard's Herbal - Part 3

Gerard's Herbal - CHAP. 206. Of Cottonweed or Cudweed.

CHAP. 206. Of Cottonweed or Cudweed.


Fig. 958. English Cudweed (1)

Fig. 959. Common Cudweed (2)

 

The Description.

            1. English Cudweed hath sundry slender and upright stalks divided into many branches, and groweth as high as common Wormwood, whose colour and shape it doth much resemble. The leaves shoot from the bottom of the turf full of hairs, in shape somewhat like a Willow leaf below, but above they be narrower, and like the leaves of Psyllium or Fleawort: among which do grow small pale coloured flowers like those of the small Coniza or Flea-bane. The whole plant is of a bitter taste.

            2. The second being our common Gnaphalium or Cudweed is a base or low herb, nine or ten inches long, having many small stalks or tender branches, and little leaves, covered all over with a certain white cotton or fine wool, and very thick: the flowers be yellow, and grow like buttons at the top of the stalks.

Fig. 960. Sea Cudweed (3)

Fig. 961. White and Purple Mountain Cudweed (4, 5)

            3. The third kind of Cudweed or Cottonweed, being of the sea, is like unto the other Cudweed last described, but is altogether smaller and lower, seldom growing much above a handful high: the leaves grow thick upon the stalks, and are short, flat, and very white, soft and woolly. The flowers grow at the top of the stalks in small round buttons, of colour and fashion like the other Cudweed.

            4. The fourth being the Cottonweed of the hills and stony mountains, is so exceeding white and hoary, that one would think it to be a plant made of wool, which may very easily be known by his picture, without other description.

            5. The fifth kind of Cottonweed hath leaves and stalks like the other of his kind, and differeth in that, that this plant beareth a bush or tuft of purple flowers, otherwise it is very like.

Fig. 962. Kinds of Cottonweed or Cudweed (6-9)

            6. The sixth is like unto the last recited, but greater: the flowers are ofan exceeding bright red colour, and of an aromatical sweet smell.

            7. The seventh kind of Gnaphalium or Cottonweed of Clusius his description, grows nine or ten inches high, having little long leaves like the small Mouse-Ear, woolly within, and of a hoary colour on the outside: the stalks in like manner are very woolly, at the top whereof cometh forth a fair flower and a strange, having such woolly leaves bordering the flower about, that a man would think it to be nothing else but wool itself: and in the midst of the flower come forth sundry small heads of a pale yellow colour, like unto the other of this kind. The root is black and somewhat fibrous.

            8. There is a kind of Cottonweed, being of greater beauty than the rest, that hath straight and upright stalks a foot high or more, covered with a most soft and fine wool, and in such plentiful manner, that a man may with his hands take it from the stalk in great quantity: which stalk is beset with many small long and narrow leaves, green upon the inner side, and hoary on the other side, fashioned somewhat like the leaves of Rosemary, but greater. The flowers do grow at the top of the stalks in bundles or tufts, consisting of many small flowers of a white colour, and very double, compact, or as it were consisting of little silver scales thrust close together, which do make the same very double. When the flower hath long flourished, and is waxen old, then comes there in the midst of the flower a certain brown yellow thrum, such as is in the midst of the Daisy: which flower being gathered when it is young, may be kept in such manner as it was gathered (I mean in such freshness and well liking) by the space of a whole year after, in your chest or eIsewhere: wherefore our English women have called it Live-Long, or Live-For-Ever, which name doth aptly answer his effects. Clusius received this plant out of England, and first set it forth by the name of Gnaphalium Americanum, or Argyrocome.

            9. This plant hath three or four small greyish cottony or woolly stalks, growing straight from the root, and commonly divided into many little branches: the leaves be long, narrow, whitish, softt, and woolly, like the other of his kind: the flowers be round like buttons, growing very many together at the top of the stalks, but nothing so yellow as Mouse-Ear, which turn into down, and are carried away with the wind.

Fig. 963. Herb Impious (10)

Fig. 964. Lion's Cudweed (11)

 

            10. The tenth is like unto the last before mentioned, in stalks, leaves, and flowers, but much larger, and for the most part those flowers which appear first are the lowest and basest, and they are overtopped by other flowers which come on younger branches, and grow higher, as children seeking to overgrow or overtop their parents, (as many wicked children do) for which cause it hath been called Herba impia, that is, the wicked Herb; or Herb Impious.

            11. The eleventh plant comprehended under the title of Gnaphalium, (being without doubt a kind thereof, as may appear by the shape of his flowers and stalks, covered over with a soft wool like unto the other kinds of Cottonweed) is an handful high or thereabouts, beset with leaves like Gnaphalium anglicum, but somewhat broader. At the top of the stalk groweth a flower of a blackish brown violet colour, beset about with rough and woolly hairy leaves, which make the whole flower to resemble the rough haired foot of a lion, of a hare, or a bear, or rather in mine opinion of a Rough-Footed Dove. The heads of these flowers when they are spread abroad carry a greater circumference than is required in so small a plant; and when the flower is faded, the seed is wrapped in such a deal of wool that it is scarcely to be found out.

Fig. 965. Small Lion's Cudweed (12)

Fig. 966. Long-Leaved Cudweed (13)

            12. This small kind of Leontopodium being likewise a kind of Cottonweed, neither by Dioscorides or any other ancient writer once remembered, hath one single stalk nine inches in height, and the leaves of Gnaphalium montanum; which leaves and stalks are white, with a thick hoary woolliness, bearing at the top pale yellow flowers like Gnaphalium montanum; the root is slender and woody.

            13. This, which Clusius calls Gnaphalium plateau 2, hath small stalks some handful high or somewhat more, of which some stand upright, others lie along upon the ground, being round, hairy, and unorderly set with soft hoary leaves engirting their stalks at their setting on, and sharp pointed at their upper ends. The tops of the stalks carry many whitith heads full of a yellowish down; the root is thick and blackish, with some fibres.

Fig. 967. Small Broad-Leaved Cudweed (14)

            14. This sends up one stalk parted into several branches set here and there with broad soft and hoary leaves and at the division of the branches and amongst the leaves grow seven or eight little heads thick thrust togethcr, being of a greyish yellow colour, and full of much down: the root is unprofitable, and perishes as soon as it hath perfected his seed. Clusius calls this Gnaphalium plateau 3; he having as it seems received them both from his friend Jacques Plateau.

The Place.

            The first groweth in the dark woods of Hampstead, and in the woods near unto Deptford by London. The second groweth upon dry sandy banks. The third groweth at a place called Mersea, six miles from Colchester, near unto the sea side. I also had it sent me from my worshipful friend Mr. Thomas Glynn, who gathered it upon the sea coast of Wales.

            The rest grow upon mountains, hilly grounds, and barren pastures.

            The kind of Gnaphalium newly set forth (to wit americanum) groweth naturally near unto the Mediterranean sea, from whence it hath been brought and planted in our English gardens. If this be true which our author here affirms, it might have have had a fitter (at least a nearer) denomination than from America: yet Bauhin affirms that it grows frequently in Brazil, and it is not improbable that both their assertions be true.

The Time.

            They flower for the most part from June to the end of August.

The Names.

            Cottonweed is called in Greek Gnaphalion; and it is called Gnaphalion, because men use the tender leaves of it instead of bombast or cotton, as Paulus Ægineta writeth. Pliny saith it is called Chamæxylon, as though he should say Dwarf Cotton; for it hath a soft and white cotton like unto bombast: whereupon also it was called of divers Tomentitia, and Cotonaria: of others, Centunculus, Centuncularis, and Albinum; which word is found among the bastard names: but the latter word, by reason of the white colour, doth reasonably well agree with it. It is also called Bombax, Humilis filago, and Herba impia, because the younger, or those flowers that spring up later, are higher, and overtop those that come first, as many wicked children do unto their parents, as before touched in the description: in English, Cottonweed, Cudweed, Chaffweed, and Petty Cotton.

The Nature.

            These herbs be of an astringent or binding and drying quality.

The Virtues.

            A. Gnaphalium boiled in strong lye cleanseth the hair from nits and lice: also the herb being laid in wardrobes and presses keepeth apparel from moths.

            B. The same boiled in wine and drunken, killeth worms and bringeth them forth, and prevaileth against the bitings and stingings of venomous beasts.

            C. The fume or smoke of the herb dried, and taken with a funnel, being burned therein, and received in such manner as we use to take the fume of Tobacco, that is, with a crooked pipe made for the same purpose by the potter, prevaileth against the cough of the lungs, the great ache or pain of the head, and cleanseth the breast and inward parts.

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