The Description.

            1. Horse-Radish bringeth forth great leaves, long, broad, sharp pointed and snipped about the edges, of a deep green colour like those of the great garden Dock, called, of some Monk's Rhubarb, of others Patience, but longer and rougher. The stalk is slender and brittle, bearing at the top small white flowers: which being past, there follow small cods, wherein is the seed. The root is long and thick, white of colour, in taste sharp, and very much biting the tongue like mustard.

            2. Dittander or Pepperwort, hath broad leaves, long, and sharp pointed, of a bluish green colour like woad, somewhat snipped or cut about the edges like a saw. The stalk is round and tough: upon the branches whereof grow little white flowers. The root is long and hard, creeping far abroad in the ground, in such sort that when it is once taken in a ground, it is not possible to root it out, for it will under the ground creep and shoot up and bud forth in many places far abroad. The root also is sharp and biteth the tongue like pepper, whereof it took the name pepperwort.

Fig. 406. Annual Dittander (3)

            3. This which we give you in the third place hath a small fibrous root, the stalk grows up to the height of two cubits, and it is divided into many branches furnished with white flowers, after which follow seeds like in shape and taste to Thlaspi, or Treacle Mustard. The leaves are somewhat like those of Woad. This is nourished in some gardens of the Low Countries, and Lobel was the first that gave the figure hereof; and that under the same title as we here give you it.

The Place.

            Horse-Radish for the most part groweth and is planted in gardens, yet have I found it wild in sundry places, as at Nantwich in Cheshire, in a place called the Milne eye, and also at a small village near London called Hogsdon, in the field next unto a farmhouse leading to Kingsland, where my very good friend Master Bredwell practitioner in physic, a learned and diligent searcher of simples, and Master William Martin one of the Fellowship of Barbers and Chirurgeons, my dear and loving friend, in company with him found it, and gave me knowledge of the place, where it flourisheth to this day.

            Dittander is planted in gardens, and is to be found wild also in England in sundry places, as at Clare by Ovenden in Essex, at the Hall of Brinne in Lancashire, and near unto Exeter in the West parts of England. It delighteth to grow in sandy and shadowy places somewhat moist.

The Time.

            Horse-Radish for the most part flowereth in April or May, and the seed is ripe in August, and that so rare or seldom seen, as that Petrus Placentius hath written, that it bringeth forth no seed at all. Dittander flowers in June and July.

The Names.

            Horse-radish is commonly called Raphanus Rusticanus, or Magnus, and of divers simply Raphanus sylvestris: of the High Dutch men, Merrettich krain or kren, in French, Grand Raifort, of the low Germans, Merradus: in English, Mountain Radish, Great Raifort, and Horse-radish. It is called in the North part of England, Redcole.

            Divers think that this Horse-Radish is an enemy to Vines, and that the hatred between them is so great, that if the roots hereof be planted near to the Vine it bendeth backward from it, as not willing to have fellowship with it.

            It is also reported that the root hereof stamped, and cast into good and pleasant wine doth forthwith turn it into vinegar: but the old writers do ascribe this enmity to the vine and Brassica, our coleworts.

            Dittander is described of Pliny by the name of Lepidium in his 19th book, 9th chapter: likewise Ægineta maketh mention of this plant, by the name Lepidium: in shops, Raphanus sylvestris, and Piperitis: the Germans call it, Pfefferkraut: the Low Dutchmen, Pepper cruyt: the English men, Dittander, Dittany, and Pepperwort.

The Temperature.

            These kinds of wild Radishes, are hot and dry in the third degree: they have a drying and cleansing quality, and somewhat digesting.

The Virtues.

            A. Horse-Radish stamped with a little vinegar put thereto, is commonly used among the Germans for sauce to eat fish with, and such like meats, as we do mustard; but this kind of sauce doth heat the stomach better, and causeth better digestion than mustard.

            B. Oximel or syrup made with vinegar and honey, in which the rinds of Horse-Radish have been infused three days, causeth vomit, and is commended against the quartan ague.

            C. The leaves boiled in wine, and a little olive oil added thereto and laid upon the grieved parts in manner of a poultice, do mollify and take away the hard swellings of the liver and milt; and being applied to the bottom of the belly is a remedy for the strangury.

            D. It profiteth much in the expulsion of the secondine or after-birth.

            E. It mitigateth and assuageth the pain of the hip or haunch, commonly called sciatica.

            F. It profiteth much against the colic, strangury, and difficulty of making water, used instead of mustard as aforesaid.

            G. The root stamped and given to drink, killeth the worms in children: the juice given doth the same: an ointment made thereof, doth the like, being anointed upon the belly of the child.

            H. The leaves of Pepperwort, but especially the roots, be extreme hot, for they have a burning, and bitter taste. It is of the number of scorching and blistering simples, saith Pliny in his 20th book, the 17th chap., and therefore by his hot quality, it mendeth the skin in the face, and taketh away scabs, scars, and manginess, if anything remain after the healing of ulcers and such like.