Rosemary / Rosmarinus officinalis / Salvia Rosmarinus

Rosemary / Rosmarinus officinalis / Salvia Rosmarinus

 “smell it oft & it shall keep thee youngly” Richard Banckes ‘Herball’ (1525). Each Herbal Remnants pendant is made from the leaves, stems or berries of Rosemary, Bay & Ivy, bound together & burnt away during the casting process leaving in its place a solid silver wraith. Rosemary has been used since antiquity to symbolise remembrance in death & enduring love - included in embalming oils & powders to preserve bodies; woven into ceremonial wreaths; sprigs given to mourners to scatter into the grave; worn at weddings & entwined into festive garlands.

In traditional herbalism it is valued for actions including as an antiseptic, antiviral, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, a circulatory stimulant & nervous system tonic. Herbalist John Gerarde (1636) describes some of ‘The Vertues’ of Rosemary - it “is given against all fluxes of bloud; it is also good, especially the floures thereof, for all infirmities of the head & braine…for they dry the braine, quicken the sences & memory…The oile of Rosemary chimically drawne, comforteth the cold, weake & feeble braine in most wonderfull manner.”

Nicholas Culpeper the astrological herbalist considered Rosemary to be governed under the Sun & in ‘The English Physitian’ (1652) recommended the herb as a “decoction thereof in wine, helps…all other cold diseases of the head & brain…drowsiness or dulness of the mind & senses...to be both drank, & the temples bathed therewith” & the flowers “strengthen the brain exceedingly”. Recent studies have confirmed the inhalation of rosemary oil acts upon neurotransmitters in the brain associated with memory. “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.” Ophelia ‘Hamlet’, W. Shakespeare (c.1600)


Images:

  • ‘The Herball or Generall historie of plantes. Gathered by John Gerarde of London Master in Chirurgerie: very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Johnson, citizen and apothecarie of London’. 1636
  • Elizabeth Blackwell, 'A curious herbal: containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick. Engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings taken from the life.' 1751
    Image from The New York Public Library

 

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