was one of
the herbs held most sacred by the Druids and, as the herbals of Gerard
and Parkinson testify, it was in high repute even as late as the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It has never been satisfactorily
identified, though many authorities incline to the belief that it was
verbena. In Druidical times libations of honey had to be offered to
the earth from which it was dug, mystic ceremonies attended the
digging of it and the plant was lifted out with the left hand. This
uprooting had always to be performed at the rising of the dog star and
when neither the sun nor the moon was shining. Why the humble waybroad
should occupy so prominent a place in Saxon herb lore it is difficult
to understand. It is one of the nine sacred herbs in the alliterative
lay in the _Lacnunga_, and the epithets "mother of worts" and "open
from eastwards" are applied to it. The latter curious epithet is also
applied to it in _Lacnunga_ 46,--"which spreadeth open towards the
East." Waybroad has certainly wonderfully curative powers, especially
for bee-stings, but otherwise it has long since fallen from its high
estate. Peony throughout the Middle Ages was held in high repute for
its protective powers, and even during the closing years of the last
century country folk hung beads made of its roots round children's
necks.[29] Yarrow is one of the aboriginal English plants, and from
time immemorial it has been used in incantations and by witches.
Country folk still regard it as one of our most valuable herbs,
especially for rheumatism. Mugwort, which was held in repute
throughout the Middle Ages for its efficacy against unseen powers of
evil, is one of the nine sacred herbs in the alliterative lay in the
_Lacnunga_, where it is described thus:--

"Eldest of worts
Thou hast might for three
And against thirty
For venom availest
For flying vile things,
Mighty against loathed ones
That through the land rove."

Harleian MS. 585.

[Illustration: (1) ARTEMISIA AND (2) BLACKBERRY, FROM A SAXON HERBAL
(Sloane 1975, folio 37_a_)]

With the notable exception of vervain, it is curious how little
prominence is given in Saxon plant lore to the herbs which were held
most sacred by the Druids, and yet it is scarcely credible that some
of their wonderful lore should not have been assimilated. But in these
manuscripts little or no importance attaches to mistletoe, holly,
birch or ivy. Th