Melancholy (Culpeper says it harms)

CND-0092Head, mind and nerves

Open in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation

A heading of ours (added October 2026), not the 1850 index’s. It holds sentences the index would have filed under “Melancholy”, read for direction: here Culpeper says the plant causes or harms, or the index heading did not fit.

Modern reading: depression and anxiety. Searched in PubMed as each plant’s Latin name with depression OR antidepressant OR anxiety OR anxiolytic. The counts and papers are on the Concordance page.

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

This heading is ours. A keyword search had filed these under “Melancholy”, but in each sentence Culpeper says the plant harms it. They are listed so his words stay on record, not as a remedy.

2 claims: 2 with a sentence, 0 from the index alone

1. Barley Hordeum vulgareCLM-001305

   if you view diligently its effects by sympathy and antipathy, you may easily perceive a reason of them, as also why barley bread is so unwholesome for melancholy people.

   QUO-000889Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation
2. Garlick Allium sativumCLM-001316

   in men oppressed by melancholy, it will attenuate the humour, and send up strong fancies, and as many strange visions to the head;

   QUO-000896Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850