The French know it as Bugrane, beloved by goats, and the chief delight of donkeys, who rejoice to roll themselves amid its prickles. Simon Pauli ne connait pas de meilleur remède contre le calcul des reins, et de la vessie. "Anjourdhui l'arr éte boeuf est à peu pres abandonné." "On y reviendra!" The plant contains "ononin," a chemical glucoside, which is demulcent to the urinary organs.
Its botanical name of Glycyrrhiza comes from the Greek words, glukus, "sweet," and riza, "a root." English Liquorice root, when dried, is commercially used in two forms, the peeled and the unpeeled. By far and away the best lozenges are those of our [322] boyhood, still attributed to one "Smith," in the Borough of London.
MALLOWS.
All the Mallows (Malvaceoe) to the number of a thousand, agree in containing mucilage freely, and in possessing no unwholesome properties.
Their family name "Mallow" is derived from the Greek malassein, "to soften," as alluding to the demulcent qualities of these mucilaginous plants. The Common Mallow is a well-known roadside plant, with large downy leaves, and streaked trumpet-shaped purple flowers, which later on furnish round button-like seeds, known to the rustics as "pickcheeses" in Norfolk and elsewhere, whilst beloved by schoolboys, because of their nutty flavour, and called by them "Bread and Cheese."
Clare tells playfully of the fairies, borne by mice at a gallop:—
"In chariots lolling at their ease,
Made of whate'er their fancies please,
With wheels at hand of Mallow seeds,
Which childish sport had strung as beads."
And recalls the time when he sat as a boy:—
"Picking from Mallows, sport to please,
The crumpled seed we called a cheese."
Both this plant and its twin sister, the Marsh Mallow (Althoea hibiscus, from altho, to cure), possess medicinal virtues, which entitle them to take rank as curative Herbal Simples. The Sussex peasant knows the Common Mallow as "Maller," so that "aller and maller" means with him Alehoof (Ground Ivy) and Mallow. Pliny said: "Whosoever shall take a spoonful of the [323] Mallows shall that day be free from all diseases that may come to him."