Bistort

Bistort is a clump-forming perennial of the dock family, Polygonaceae, native to Europe and to northern and western Asia, where it favours damp meadows and the margins of woods. A thick rootstock bent twice over gives it its Latin name, from bis, twice, and torta, twisted, and its old names of snakeweed and adderwort; from it rise long oval leaves and slender stems, each ending in a dense spike of pink flowers. The root is rich in tannin, among the strongest astringents of any native British plant, and was once used to tan leather, while the young leaves and shoots were eaten as spring greens; in northern England they went into a bitter herb pudding at Lent. Kynes gathers its lore: some northern English cures worked only if it was picked at the full moon, in sixteenth-century France it was worn as an amulet to help conception, Irish travellers pocketed a few flowers for a safe journey, and Scots knotted the leaves into a cloth to break a spell. Cunningham has it carried by those hoping to conceive, burned with frankincense to strengthen psychic powers and divination, sprinkled as an infusion to drive out poltergeists, and added to sachets and incenses for money and wealth.