Lynne Elizabeth Campbell
Lathyrus linifolius (Bitter vetch) Scotland’s Glycyrrhiza glabra (Liquorice)?
Abstract
Lathyrus linifolius is, in general, common and widespread in the British Isles, and has had a number of traditional, culinary and medicinal uses recorded over the last five centuries.
It was seen as a powerful healing plant with supernatural energising properties, and was important in the Highlands of Scotland for helping suppress hunger and thirst due to famine conditions after a failed harvest.
From Sibbald (1685) to the present day, very little information has been published and few herbalists have experience in using it as a remedy.
A ‘Forgotten Plant’ with a long list of powerful properties, it appears ripe for investigation and could maybe be a rival against one of the most universal herbs used in herbal medicine, Glycyrrhiza glabra, if grown commercially.
The purpose of this research was to examine both the historical and modern literature in order to provide an argument for the possible re-introduction of Lathyrus linifolius into the modern Herbal Materia Medica.
To explore this, work was undertaken to conduct an extensive literature search and to look at the energetic profile of the plant by conducting a blind tasting, with a group of experienced volunteers (4th year herbal students).
Throughout, the literature review it became apparent that modern information and research was disappointingly unavailable. Further work was hoped to be undertaken at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, where a sample provided by Highland Natural Products, Muir of Ord, could be extracted and analysed to determine the constituents present in the tubers of Lathyrus linifolius.
The little amount of information gleaned from the literature, and the energetic profile obtained for Lathyrus linifolius suggest that there may be some interesting therapeutic properties worth investigating further, particularly in the area of disease prevention.
