Water-Caltrops

Trapa natans

HRB-0060Entry “WATER-CALTROPS” in the 1850 textNot in the 1652 first edition: added by Culpeper in 1653 or by a later editor up to 1850

Open in the Concordance

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.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Moon, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

What it does, in Culpeper: Counter-poison

Culpeper’s claims about it: 9, under 9 headings

  1. it cleanses and strengthens the neck and throat, and helps those swellings which, when people have, they say the almonds of the ears are fallen down.
    QUO-000060Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. CankersCLM-000400
    They are under the dominion of the Moon, and being made into a poultice, are excellently good for hot inflammations, swellings, cankers, sore mouths and throats, being washed with the decoction;
    QUO-000336Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. GravelCLM-000804
    They are excellent for the stone and gravel, especially the nuts, being dried.
    QUO-000622Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. InflammationsCLM-000893
    They are under the dominion of the Moon, and being made into a poultice, are excellently good for hot inflammations, swellings, cankers, sore mouths and throats, being washed with the decoction;
    QUO-000336Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. King’s-evilCLM-001107
    It is excellently good for the rankness of the gums, a safe and present remedy for the king’s evil.
    QUO-000790Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. They also resist poison, and bitings of venomous beasts.
    QUO-000944Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. StoneCLM-001687
    They are excellent for the stone and gravel, especially the nuts, being dried.
    QUO-000622Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  8. SwellingsCLM-001781
    They are under the dominion of the Moon, and being made into a poultice, are excellently good for hot inflammations, swellings, cankers, sore mouths and throats, being washed with the decoction;
    QUO-000336Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  9. Swellings — in the ThroatCLM-0024331850 index, p. 39
    They are under the dominion of the Moon, and being made into a poultice, are excellently good for hot inflammations, swellings, cankers, sore mouths and throats, being washed with the decoction;
    QUO-000336Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

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

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.