Angelica (Angelica archangelica)
Flowers: May to July. Height: Up to 300cm (10ft).
Its name is said to have been revealed by Archangel Michael to a monk as an antidote to the plague and this gave rise to the practice of sucking a piece of Angelica root as a protection against all ills. Its seeds were burnt over a low fire to perfume rooms.
Medicinal: Introduced into England in the 16th century from Scandinavia and listed in John Parkinson’s herbal of 1629, it was rated as the most important of medicinal herbs. One of the main herbs used to treat the plague, it was also good for digestive discomfort, respiratory diseases, lowering fever, reducing inflammation and improving blood flow to hands and feet. Its leaves were used as a tonic medicine, and chewed to cure flatulence. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal (1653) stated “A water distilled from the root…eases all pains and torments coming of cold and wind, …and helps the pleurisy, as also all other diseases of the lungs and breast, as coughs and shortness of breath. The root in powder, made up into a plaster and laid on the biting of mad dogs or any other venomous creature doth wonderfully help.”
Culinary: All parts are aromatic with a taste similar to liquorice. Young flower heads and tender young leaf stalks were eaten raw in salads. Young stalks were particularly good when stewed with rhubarb and it was also used to sweeten fruit tarts and decorate cakes. The crystallised stalks were a popular after-dinner candy in medieval times due to their sweetness and bright green colour and preserved in this way, it is still in use today.
