The plants believed to have ancient powers - including a cure for baldness and stirring sexual passions in women

JENNY Lee has had a passion for education all of her working life.

Originally from Sunderland, she ran adult basic education services for Durham County Council, and became national adult dyslexia co-ordinator.

But, now living with husband Ray in Teesdale, she has developed another passionate interest - for nature and ancient Teesdale plant remedies in particular.

It is the subject of talks she gives to local groups, most recently the Barnard Castle History Society. Here she takes up the story from the pages of history... 

"Throughout time, people have turned to herbs and foods to treat and cure illness.  Healers determined which food or plant would treat a specific disease by looking to the plants themselves for clues to how they should be used.
This was the belief that every plant shares characteristics with whatever body part it's helpful in treating. It could be shape, colour, scent or location. In other words the plant had a "signature" of what it could do. This theory was called the Doctrine of Signatures."

Even today some of the plant names tell us what they were once used for.

• liverwort = relieve liver trouble
• snakeroot = antidote for snake venom
• adders tongue = cure for wounds and inflammation from snakebite
• lungwort = cure pulmonary diseases
• toothwort = relieve toothache
• gravelwort = dissolve stones in the urinary tract
• wormwood = expel intestinal parasites
• pilewort = cure hemorrhoids
• scurvy grass = scurvy
• mandrake = promote sexual passion in females
• black-eye root = remove bruise discoloration
• maidenhair fern = cure for baldness
• spleenwort= cure the spleen diseases

Health warnings!

• Never use rare plants
• Only take a leaf or two from each
• It's illegal to dig up plants
• Of course, it's dangerous for us to pick ones which could be polluted
• We also shouldn't try to use them as cures unless we really know what we're doing.

Here’s six of the most interesting plants you can find in Teesdale that have been used since ancient times
 

1 St John’s Wort

Red juice of leaves represented St John’s blood, the devil hated it so much he tried to destroy it with a needle - look at leaves with hand lens.

The botanist William Coles (1626–1662) said: "The little holes whereof the leaves of Saint John’s wort are full, doe resemble all the pores of the skin and, therefore, it is profitable for all hurts and wounds that can happen thereunto."

Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th century botanist, said that "a tincture of flowers in wine is commended against the melancholy and madness."
It was hung on doors to prevent entry of evil spirits. 

2 Eyebright

The flower looks like an eye. Culpeper said of this plant: “If its uses were properly understood it would spoil the spectacle-makers’ trade.”
Still used as an eye-wash for hay-fever and inflammatory eye disease.

3 Self heal

The flower spikes resemble the throat. Used to treat inflammations of the mouth and throat. Botanist and herbalist John Gerard said there was no better wound herb in the world. You just need to bruise it and apply to the wound. It cleanses and stops bleeding.

A famous wound herb with renowned anti-bacterial properties. Applied fresh in poultices to stop bleeding and close over wounds. Also called ‘Heal All’ and ‘Carpenter’s Herb’, indicating it was used to heal cut fingers.

4 Devil's Bit Scabious: Culpeper rated this plant as a powerful treatment to the plague, pestilential diseases, bites from venemous creatures and for treatment of bruises (as it dissolves blood clots). Modern herbalists favour Devil's Bit Scabious for lowering fevers, treating coughs and for reducing inflammation.

The name, 'Devil's Bit' comes from a legend that the devil found the plant in paradise, and fearing that its medicinal properties would benefit humakind, he bit into the root to kill it.

The root is still truncated! The word scabious comes from the Latin meaning to each.

It can be used for eczema. Culpeper used it as a treatment for itching.

5 Foxglove

Still a leading cardiac drug for heart failure: digitalis. Unofficial drug discovered in 1775, only now just on prescription. And, guess what, it has heart-shaped leaves.

6 Walnut

Curiously, some up-to-date research by the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, has yielded startling results.

In tests, adults who eat a handful of walnuts a day performed significantly better on a range of mental tests, regardless of age or gender.

Eating walnuts every day, it appears, can bring almost immediate improvements to memory and slow down the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Of all the nuts, they are the only nut to contain a significant source of Omega Three.

The doctor leading the research, said it was tremendously exciting, adding that it isn't every day that research yields such simple advice - eating a few walnuts daily can significantly improve your cognitive health.

And here's the strange thing…Of all the nuts we eat, shelled walnuts most closely resemble the human brain! The doctrine of signatures?"