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[lady_daereth]

I'm looking for some info on what the flora (plant life) might have been in Britain in the early middle ages. I'm not a botanist, I just need a quote in my linguistic research to support the idea that the occurrence of certain plant types in herbal charms was not coincidental.
So, anyone, any ideas on British landscape in the early a.d.'s?
 PS Tried

Comments

[biascut]

The Postcode Plants d
Database at the Natural History Museum?

I just googled this because I thought it was an interesting question, by the way, I don't know anything particular about medieval horticulture. But I'm fairly sure that the majority of England was still ancestral forests until the later Middle Ages (and the same would be true of the rest of these islands), so anything that's listed as native to an area would have been there fifteen hundred years ago.

Will be really interested to see the other responses!

[lady_daereth]

Thanks for the link, please look at my other reply below.

[gobsmacked]

What has linguistics got to do with the occurence of flora in herbal charms? That's usually based on perceived efficacy. Do you mean the names of herbs?

Also, the early Middle Ages is still circa 800+, usually towards 1000. Is that really that early? And what language are we asking about? Anglo-Saxon? Latin? Those are some of the main languages of the early a.d.'s

I will give you an example that I know of in which changes in the pronunciation of the name of a plant has led to confusion about its original medicinal properties:
feverfew: was apparently originally something like feather-foil and used for headaches, esp. migraines
(This was from a book on herbal medicine used by one of my colleagues, and can be found on at least one herbal drug company website and elsewhere.) There are alternate claims that it came from Latin febrifugia, fever reducer. However, while studies show that it is effective against migraine, it has apparently no efficacy against fever and is in fact not recommended for this. This suggests that there

[lady_daereth]

Ok. I don't really need to go into the detail on plant names; all I need is a reference to the prevalence of this or that common class of plant.
For example, in the charms you only come across names for deciduous plans, never firs or evergreens. I'd like to prove that is intentional, not that this happened because no firs grew in those areas in those times. So for this end, I would need a paper stating 'in the early Middle Ages vast territories of ..., ... and ... were overgrown with mixed or pine forests'. That would prove the point that firs were not worshipped or held to possess magical virtues, despite their onmipresence. That's it, in a broad sketch.

[gobsmacked]

Hmm. Pine needle tea is used for colds in some cultures. I believe it contains vit C. It may not be a European tradition, however. My suggestion is that you find a book on the history of herbalism in Britain, with commentary. You might try Gerard's Herbal, which does contain references to pine trees.

[lady_daereth]

Ok, herbalism may be the word *ticks*. Thanks!

[the_reda]

Have you tried 'google scholar'? Just a plain search for medieval plants gives me loads of links. I am sure with refined search terms the results should be even better.

[lady_daereth]

Yes Google Scholar is my starting page :) Please look at my reply above.

[the_reda]

Your OP did not mention that you used google scholar.I am sorry for trying to be helpful.I will not make that mistake again. I can go full snark, omitting the helpful part, without a problem.

[owl_of_minerva]

Posts like this always make me want to re-watch Desk Set.

[fnordian]

I have no help to offer with this, but I'm really curious what kind of linguistics you're doing - are you making an argument about the methods of historical reconstruction? Just wondering about the connection!

[lady_daereth]

No, it is a non-linguistic issue that I need to refer to in a linguistic paper. I would like to know that the absence of reference to certain plant types in herbal charms and other texts is not a result of their scarcity, but a choice made on grounds of mythology and symbolism. For this, I need to know what the composition of forests in parts of northern Europe was, back in those times.

[gobsmacked]

Would Britain alone be okay: Introduction To Britain’s Lost Wildwood?

Also, remember that yew is a coniferous tree, and is mentioned in more than one herbal. Juniper is also coniferous and is a staple in food and IIRC in medicine.