Fumaria officinalis.
Common Fumitory. Friendly.
The smell of
the roots brings tears to the eyes as smoke does like the name common name
suggests. Fumaria's flowers have long pinkish petals tipped with black in
Britain. A cousin, Fumitory, grows
on cultivated, disturbed ground. It is used in herb medicine to treat
constipation and to prevent water retention by stimulating the kidneys.
I love to
think there is a cure in nature to treat every condition. In the old days,
plants were the only things available.
Friendly women would devote their lives to helping with people's ailments
and delivering babies. The power of their cures must have frightened people. Some
poor healers were accused of witchery and treated harshly, tied to a stake and
burned amidst smoke inhalations like the fumes given off by the Fumaria. In truth, most of the women
must have had friendly intentions to
want to cure others.
Proverb: First impressions are the most lasting.
