Anemone (wood)
The Wood Anemone, or medicinal English Pulsatilla, with its
lovely pink white petals, and drooping blossoms, is one of our best
known and most beautiful spring flowers. Herbalists do not
distinguish it virtually from the silky-haired Anemone Pulsatilla,
which medicinal variety is of highly valuable modern curative
use as a Herbal Simple. The active chemical principles of
each plant are anemonin and anemonic acid. A tin
ture is
made (H.) with spirit of wine from the entire [21] plant, collected
when in flower. This tincture is remarkably beneficial in disorders
of the mucous membranes, alike of the respiratory and of the
digestive passages. For mucous indigestion following a heavy or
rich meal the tincture of Pulsatilla is almost a specific remedy.
Three or four drops thereof should be given at once with a
tablespoonful of water, hot or cold, and the same dose may be
repeated after an hour if then still needed. For catarrhal affections
of the eyes and the ears, as well as for catarrhal diarrhoea, the
tincture is very serviceable; also for female monthly difficulties its
use is always beneficial and safe. As a medicine it best suits
persons of a mild, gentle disposition, and of a lymphatic
constitution, especially females; it is less appropriate for quick,
excitable, energetic men. Anemonin, or Pulsatilla Camphor, which
is the active principle of this plant, is prepared by the chemist, and
may be given in doses of from one fiftieth to one tenth of a grain
rubbed up with dry sugar of milk. Such a dose (or a drop of the
tincture with a tablespoonful of water), given every two or three
hours, will soon relieve a swollen testicle; and the tincture still
more diluted will ease the bladder difficulties of old men.
Furthermore, the tincture, in doses of two or three drops with a
spoonful of water, will allay spasmodic cough, as of whooping
cough, or bronchitis. The vinegar of Wood Anemone made from
the leaves retains all the more acrid properties of the plant, and is
put, in France, to many rural domestic purposes. When applied in
lotions every night for five or six times consecutively, it will heal
indolent ulcers; and its rubefacient effects serve instead of those
produced externally by mustard. If a teaspoonful is sprinkled
within the palms and its volatile vapours are inhaled through the
mouth and nose, this [22] will dispel an incipient catarrh. The
name Pulsatilla is a diminutive of the Latin puls, a pottage, as
made from pulse, and used at sacrificial feasts. The title Anemone
signifies wind-flower. Pliny says this flower never opens but
when the wind is blowing. The title has been misapprehended as
an emony. Turner says gardeners call the flowers emonies;
and Tennyson, in his Northern Farmer, tells of the dead keeper
being found doon in the woild enemies afoor I corned to the
plaice. Other names of the plant are Wood Crowfoot, Smell Fox
(Rants), and Flawflower. Alfred Austin says, With windflower
honey are my tresses smoothed. It is also called the Passover
Flower, because blossoming at Easter; and it belongs to the
Ranunculaceous order of plants. The flower of the Wood Anemone
tells the approach of night, or of a shower, by curling over
its petals like a tent; and it has been said that fairies nestle
within, having first pulled the curtains round them. Among the old
Romans, to gather the first Anemone of the year was deemed a
preservative against fever. The Pasque flower, also named
Bluemoney and Easter, or Dane's flower, is of a violet blue,
growing in chalky pastures, and less common than the Wood
Anemone, but each possesses equally curative virtues.
The seed of the Anemone being very light and downy, is blown
away by the first breeze of wind. A ready-witted French senator
took advantage of this fact while visiting Bacheliere, a covetous
florist, near Paris, who had long held a secret monopoly of certain
richly-coloured and splendidly handsome anemones from the East.
Vexed to see one man hoard up for himself what ought to be more
widely distributed, he walked and talked with the florist in his
garden when the anemone [23] plants were in seed. Whilst thus
occupied, he let fall his robe, as if by accident, upon the flowers,
and so swept off a number of the little feathery seed vessels which
clung to his dependent garment, and which he afterwards cultivated
at home. The petals of the Pasque flower yield a rich green
colour, which is used For staining Easter eggs, this festival
having been termed Pask time in old works, from paske, a
crossing over. The plant is said to grow best with iron in the soil.