Asarum europaeum L., Asarabacca
Account Summary
Introduction, archaeophyte, extremely rare and almost certainly extinct.
Eurosiberian boreo-temperate.
1864; Dickie, Prof. G.; Pettigoe.
Growth form and preferred habitats
Asarum europaeum is a patch-forming perennial of shady places, which was widely grown in medieval times by herbalists from at least 1200 AD onwards, according to Harvey (1990).
Fermanagh occurrence
This unique record originates in Dickie's (1864) Flora of Ulster under the heading, "Species which may be considered not strictly indigenous". It is unique since there does not appear to be any other record for this species anywhere in Ireland at any time (Preston et al. 2002). Dickie recorded the plant from, "waste places at the village of Pettigoe". Being a village on the border with the Republic of Ireland, the record might equally apply to Co Donegal (H34) as to Fermanagh.
George Dickie
The finder of the plant in Pettigoe, George Dickie (1812-1882), was a native of Aberdeen and a medically qualified graduate of both Aberdeen and Edinburgh. He came to Belfast in 1849 as Professor of Natural History at the then new University of Queen's College (now The Queen's University of Belfast). He returned to Aberdeen as Professor of Botany in 1860. While in Ireland, Dickie collected the material for his Flora of Ulster (1864), which Praeger (1949) described as, "an excellent little book which embraced not only that province" (ie Ulster), "but included the interesting area of Sligo and Leitrim." Dickie produced two further Floras dealing with parts of eastern Scotland, and he became an FRS in 1881 (Praeger 1949).
Regarding the accuracy of Dickie's Asarabacca record, Robert Northridge has suggested the possibility that the professor could have made an error: the two dark green and rather glossy, evergreen, kidney-shaped leaves of A. europaeum are smaller, but similar in shape to those of Petasites fragrans (Winter Heliotrope), a plant which today is abundant on roadsides around Pettigo. However, I reckon that a man of Dickie's medical and botanical learning and experience would certainly know a Birthwort from a Butterbur! This is not to imply that even the most eminent professor cannot make mistakes. I recall David Webb detailing some of his own errors at a BSBI AGM held in the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in Dublin. The odds are in Dickie's favour when it comes to a medicinal plant like Asarabacca.
British status and occurrence
This species is also a declining and rare plant in Britain, with 60 of the 77 hectad squares plotted in the New Atlas having pre-1970 records only. Although previously claimed as being native, it is no longer regarded as anything but an ancient introduction (ie an archaeophyte) (Coombe 1956; G.M. Kay, in: Preston et al. 2002).
Medicinal uses
The root and leaves of A. europaeum are acrid and contain a volatile oil, a bitter matter and a substance with properties like camphor (Grieve 1931, p. 64). It was used amongst other things as a cure for hangovers, as a purgative and to promote sneezing, although Grieve indicates that even in the 1930s it had been replaced, "by safer and more certain remedies". It is clear from a quotation in Grigson (1987, p. 225), taken from a book by John Pechey (1694) The Compleat Herbal of Physical Plants, that Asarabacca was also used as an abortifacient, "Tis diuretick also, and forces the Courses: wherefore Wenches use the Decoction of it too frequently, when they think they are with Child."
European occurrence
A. europaeum is a European temperate species, widespread in middle latitudes and towards the east, but absent as a native from most of W Europe (Jalas & Suominen 1976, Map 368).
Names
Of the curious name, 'Asarabacca', Grigson (1987) says, "Dioscorides described the plant very precisely in his Di Materia Medica, under the name 'Asaron'. He also wrote of a bacchareis, which some herbalists took to be Asarum europaeum as well, though the two descriptions do not tally. Virgil in the Eclogues wrote of a baccar which grew with ivy, in the way of A. europaeum. As if to compromise and resolve the matter, apothecaries squashed the two names into one, to give the strange word 'Asarabacca'".
Threats
None.