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Synonyms: Old Man's
Beard, Wild Clematis, Virgin's Bower.
This is the wild cousin of our many cultivated Clematis plants.
Flowers: July -
August.
A deciduous woody
climber (up to 30 metres) with pinnate leaves (= leaves composed
of leaflets arranged in pairs along a common axis with or without
an end leaflet. It's botanical name (vitalba) indicates,
that it bears resemblance to the shoots of a vine. The vine-shaped
leaves turn from bright green to an attractive red and yellow in
the autumn. The greenish-white, fragrant flowers have four petals
and are born in panicles (branched bunches).
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The
fruits have long silvery grey, feathery extensions, which stay
on the plant till well into the winter. The name Old man's Beard
comes of course from the fact that these downy fluffy silky
balls cover the plant for a period.
The plant is
native to much of West-Europe and is naturalised in Scandinavia,
Ireland and Scotland. In Britain it is native south of the
Humber and South Wales. It can be found in woodland margins,
scrub and thicket and hedgerows on calcareous soils. It can be
very invasive, especially in newly established woodlands and
spread vigorously along railway embankments.
Here is an extract
from Juliette de Bairacli Levy's "The illustrated Herbal
Handbook". Juliette, a botanist and practicing
herbalist was a traveler (with her two children, goat and dogs)
for many years and talks with the authority of experience about
this plant:
"The leaves and flowers are stimulating and tonic. In olden
times wayfaring people used to pluck traveler's joy from the
hedges and use it as tea, and as a 'pick-up' when infused in
their bottles of ale, also as a headache cure: a head-cloth was
soaked in the cold tea and bound over the brow; headaches were
inevitable with long hours on the dusty roads in the age of foot
or horse-back travel. Externally, the herb was used for
treatment of all kinds of sores, including travel blisters on
the feet, saddle-blisters on buttocks, festering bites from
flies, and as a lotion to remove dust from traveler's eyes. The
leaves, used as a poultice, had some reputation as an external
treatment for tumours.
Use. Treatment of all aches and ailments of the wayfarer,
from headache and inflamed eyes to blistered and aching feet and
bites and bites and stings of insects. Internally as a tea,
externally as a lotion and as a poultice. For the once prevalent
ringworm they used a strong brew mixed with a half-lemon to two
tablespoons of the brew.
Dose. A Standard brew of the leaves or flowers or both. A
small cupful to be taken to allay pain: sweeten with honey.
Externally: steep a cloth in the brew and apply cold. Rinse the
eyes with the cold brew. Place fresh leaves of Traveler's joy
inside the shoes, inside the socks, to prevent blisters during
long travels on foot."
Mrs. Grieve tells
us that to 'cure' itch, a preparation was made from the bruised
roots and stems of C. vitalba, boiled for a few minutes in water
and then digested for a while in "sweet oil".
I would recommended at least two weeks in a warm place. Use a
good quality oil, such as almond or sunflower oil. See Making
Tree medicine: Infused Oils in our Groovy Grove
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