Astrantia major 'Hadspen Blood'.

Astrantia major L. Apiaceae. Gentleman's Melancholy, Hattie's Pincushion, Mountain Sanicle, & Black-root Sanicle. It was called Black Masterwort by Gerard (1633) and Imperatoria by Parkinson (1640), 'Hadspen Blood' is a cultivar. Masterwort was cultivated as a pot-herb, recommended by Culpeper (1650) for "cold griefs and diseases both of the stomache and body". The roots were used as a purgative (Lindley, 1838) and an infusion from the whole plant as a diuretic. The botanical name Astrantia is a corruption of the old apothecaries’ name for this plant, Magistrantia, 'masterwort', implying its suitability for use only by adepts in herbalism. Distribution: central and eastern Europe. Parkinson (1640) recommended it for colds, dyspnoea, renal stone, inducing menses and for expelling a dead foetus, hysteria ('strangulation of the mother'), cramps, heart failure, epilepsy, purulent wounds and ulcers, and 'reviving the abilitie of generation being almost extinct' which Parkinson doubted, quartain fevers, colic and for purging the brain. Pommet (1712) gave a completely different list: against poisons, stinking breath, malignant and pestilential diseases, vertigo, apoplexy, palsies, toothache, scabby head, and agrees with its use for ulcers. Not used now, but as it is purgative, in the family Apiaceae, it is likely to be toxic. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.