Pertinax Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 As I have expounded elsewhere, woad wasnt just to scare the neighbours whilst coveting his ass or maidservant... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1774 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Pertinax, as our resident herbalist, have you ever seen this woad growing around in Briton and seen its bluish quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Pertinax, as our resident herbalist, have you ever seen this woad growing around in Briton and seen its bluish quality? It is a vigorous weed here, but one needs to bruise the plant to see its colouration. Ive posted previously as regards its properties, (an excellent external "buffer" and ready use wound salve-but very poisonous as an internal medication, most blue things are(prussic acid) ) its strong anti-tumour properties are being looked at by scientists presently. So not just a striking and warlike ornamentation, but a useful epidermal protector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DecimusCaesar Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Pertinax, I shall look for your article it sounds interesting. I have also read that Woad gives off a terrible smell, similar to rotting eggs. Is this true? It might have made covert operations of the Britons very hard to pull off if the Romans could smell them coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Pertinax, as our resident herbalist, have you ever seen this woad growing around in Briton and seen its bluish quality? It is a vigorous weed here, but one needs to bruise the plant to see its colouration. Ive posted previously as regards its properties, (an excellent external "buffer" and ready use wound salve-but very poisonous as an internal medication, most blue things are(prussic acid) ) its strong anti-tumour properties are being looked at by scientists presently. So not just a striking and warlike ornamentation, but a useful epidermal protector. It's strange to me that it is poisonous if injested but good on wounds. A wound is open access to the blood stream, and so is the gut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Bear in mind :ricin, castor oil-the very opposite: one can drink any amount (within reason), indeed addiction in 19thC Africa was well documented, but a small scratch from the fruit will kill. Remember the assasination of the Bulgarian dissident in London? Woad -rub it all over ,get it in a deep cut -no problem.Drink it ,violent purgative and death by exhaustion. Calendula (marigold) , what could be more innocuous ? Nope, as a deep wound salve its a life saver, it will kill heavy bacterial infection (staph/strep) ,it is also anti carcinogenic. Drink it, no more than 6/10 drops per day for an adult male otherwise you will be sick as a dog. The key is simply this, some plants are poisonous if ingested because they have developed anti -grazing toxins,ie: make the herbivore sick so it wont eat you again or insecticides (tobacco) , kill any bugs that try to eat you. This doesnt mean that in a different form , expressed oil, ground leaf, tincture they do likewise : they may form (as woad does) a protective, active coating. A lot of plants (most) have an arsenal of overlapping chemical attributes, many "modern" medications are merely unstable isolates from the full plant matrix-asprin being the most obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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