Lore and usage in VS .NET

Printer EAN-13 Supplement 5 in VS .NET Lore and usage

Commonly known as old man a tip of the hat to its gray foliage southernwood was also called lad s love and boy s love Young men put a sprig in a bouquet to symbolize fidelity to their sweetie, and the herb was said to be an aphrodisiac (Oddly enough, the genus name Artemisia alludes to Artemis, the Greek goddess of chastity) Young men also burned southernwood, mixed the ashes with oil, and rubbed the solution on their chins to stimulate beard growth (Old men tried it on their pate) Burning southernwood was a popular activity because it was also thought to drive away snakes

The French called the herb garderobe which sounds like a web address for horticultural duds because it was a good moth repellent Remember that bees don t like it either when choosing a spot for it in the garden Like rue, southernwood was used to protect judges and other respectable people from prisoners infectious diseases, and like costmary, it was poked in lapels and tussie-mussies to keep church-goers from nodding off The medicinal value of artemisias even for their longtime use against parasites is hotly debated Southernwood does have antiseptic properties, so consider mixing it with oatmeal for a facial mask Most species dry well for potpourri and crafts; semi-woody types such as southernwood make good bases for wreaths

Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Talk about an identity crisis Here s an herb that tastes like licorice and looks like a fern, and found its way into kitchens as anise, great chervil, sweet chervil, cow chervil, sweet bracken, and sweet fern This perennial from Europe grows as tall as 4 feet, and its thick stems are hollow and slightly hairy, whereas the leaves are white and downy underneath It looks for all the world like a big, bright green fern In late spring or early summer, clusters of white flowers appear, similar to flowers of QueenAnne s lace Similar to others in the carrot clan, sweet cicely has a long taproot

Sweet cicely thrives in woodland conditions That means plants need not only some shade but deep, humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil like you might find in a forest Even then, sweet cicely is rarely happy in the Deep South because it can t take the heat

If you saved your own seeds, refrigerate them for two or three months before sowing or sow them in the fall Space plants 3 feet apart Don t let plants dry out, and remove flower heads to prevent self-sowing sweet cicely, which is hardy in Zones 5 to 8, naturalizes easily

Myrrhis odorata is the only species in its genus, but a genus of plants native to North American woods, Osmorhiza spp, is also called sweet cicely Like M odorata, these herbs have aromatic, segmented leaves; their flower clusters are white or yellow-green Native Americans used them to treat respiratory ailments, skin irritations, and indigestion Their roots were so attractive to livestock that plants were used to lure horses and other animals into pens

Although a roadside weed in England, sweet cicely also found its way into gardens, as garden guru Gertrude Jekyll admired it For its beauty, she wrote, it deserves to be in every garden; it is charming, with its finely cut, pale green leaves and really handsome flowers Maude Grieve s A Modern Herbal says that sweet cicely roots were soaked in wine to treat consumption, and an ointment of sweet cicely was applied to cure green wounds, stinking ulcers and ease the pain of gout The roots were said to increase the lust and strength of old people that are dull and without courage and served as a valuable tonic for girls from 15 to 18 years of age Having some experience in this matter, we find it hard to imagine that anyone ever needed to increase the lust of high-school-age maidens The flavor of sweet cicely is usually compared to lovage combined with anise You can cook the root like other root vegetables, and eat the seeds out of hand (Like anise, they help to freshen your breath) Add the seeds and/or chopped leaves to fruit salad or stewed fruits or baked goods

Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum)

If you think of a ruff as a collar (like those big, starched things the Elizabethans wore), you ll remember that this perennial holds its lanceshaped leaves in whorls 1 to 2 inches across, marching up its stem Creeping along the ground on horizontal stems, sweet woodruff rarely reaches more than 8 or 9 inches tall From late spring to midsummer it produces clouds of fragrant, white, star-shaped flowers