Sauce-Alone, Or Jack-By-The-Hedge-Side

Alliaria petiolata

HRB-0264Entry “SAUCE-ALONE, OR JACK-BY-THE-HEDGE-SIDE” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

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.

Substance of concernEFSA: Allyl isothiocyanate, Cyanogenic glycosides, GlucosinolatesEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

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

Culpeper’s claims about it: 4, under 4 headings

  1. CoughsCLM-000605
    The juice thereof boiled with honey is accounted to be as good as hedge mustard for the cough, to cut and expectorate the tough phlegm.
    QUO-000502Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. StomachCLM-001646
    It warms also the stomach, and causes digestion.
    QUO-001080Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. StoneCLM-001742
    The seed bruised and boiled in wine, is a singularly good remedy for the wind colic, or the stone, being drank warm:
    QUO-001121Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. UlcersCLM-002001
    The green leaves are held to be good to heal the ulcers in the legs.
    QUO-001262Papers 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.