Elinog: pigs, fidelity and the evil eye
Wild Welsh Plants: Woody Nightshade / Elinog / Solanum dulcamara
Welsh common names: Elinog, Codwarth Caled, Mochlys
English common names: Woody nightshade, Bittersweet
Scientific name: Solanum dulcamara
Entwining tendrils around branches and brambles, woody nightshade wraps itself around the limbs of others, moving through hedgerows and thorny scrub, producing angular stems with clusters of small but striking flowers appearing from June to October. The star-shaped flowers give way to smooth, poisonous berries that emerge green, later flushing orange and red. Not as dangerous as its cousin deadly nightshade, the berries of woody nightshade are toxic and can be harmful for children as they look edible when ripe, resembling mini tomatoes.
The scientific name dulcamara literally means ‘sweet-bitter’, in reference to the berries, which initially have a very bitter taste followed by sweetness; hence the common English name bittersweet. This led to the plant becoming a symbol of fidelity and marriage, and woody nightshade was historically used in bridal bouquets, as well as being featured in various Christian artworks, including decorating the ceiling of 15th century St Thomas church in Leipzig, Germany, where composer Johan Sebastian Bach served as musical director, and where his remains are kept.
The Welsh elinog means elbow, or ‘angular stem’ in botany, while manyglog translates to ‘place of shade or cover’, likely describing the environment bittersweet is often encountered in, such as woodland. Codwarth caled has proven trickier to decipher. Cod translates to ‘pod’, possibly referring to the pod-like flower buds that hang from the stems. Warth, however, translates to ‘disgrace, shame, shore, wharf’, or ‘something foul’, which could either refer to the plant's negative connotations, damp habitat (it’s sometimes found on shingle beaches), or possibly the way the leaves smell when crushed; supposedly like burnt rubber. Caled means bitter, so a full translation could be something like ‘bitter foul-pod’, or ‘bitter shore-pod’, but this is just my own speculation, so please let me know if any Welsh speakers have any more insight!
A plant of contradictions, the toxic bittersweet berries were historically believed to have magical properties and were employed to ward off evil, specifically the ‘evil eye’; a malicious stare born from envy, intended to curse the recipient. An ancient belief held by many cultures, the 3rd century Greek novel Aethiopica, written by Heliodorus of Emesa, explains the ocular phenomenon as:
“When any one looks at what is excellent with an envious eye he fills the surrounding atmosphere with a pernicious quality, and transmits his own envenomed exhalations into whatever is nearest to him.”
Wales was not immune from the presence of the evil eye - llygad drwg - and various charms were fashioned for protection such as this ‘pierced potato’, found hanging above a bed of peas in a Carmarthen garden in 1910; a ritual the family had maintained for generations.
In England, curling bittersweet vines were fashioned into collars and hung around the necks of animals to aid them in specific ways: a nightshade necklace could supposedly cure ‘hagridden’ horses, protect cows from evil, and nurture ‘overlooked’ pigs. Mochlys, translates to pig/swine-plant, inferring the plant was used in a similar fashion with farm animals in Wales.
Additional common names include: brook brimble, poison-berry, lady’s necklace, witch flower, terri-diddle, mad dog’s berries, scaw-coo (Cornwall), felon-wort and guinea-goul in county Limerick.
Felon-wort is so named from bittersweet’s use in healing whitlows - an abscess in the finger - which was historically known as ‘felons', from the Latin fel, meaning bile. The berries were rubbed over the infected area and said to speed healing.
John Gerard’s 1597 Herball details further virtues of woody nightshade:
'The juice is good for those that have fallen from high places, and have been thereby bruised or beaten, for it is thought to dissolve blood congealed or cluttered anywhere in the intrals and to heale the hurt places.’
While toxic if ingested by humans or farm animals, the berries of Solanum dulcamara are a main food source for blackcaps, and contribute to the diets of blackbirds, starlings, robins, spotted flycatchers and thrushes.
Photos by Esther Williams, taken in Hook, Pembrokeshire.
Disclaimer: don’t consume or use wild plants for health purposes without speaking to a medical professional first. Be cautious if foraging and only gather plants that you are certain of. These essays are intended to pique interest rather than act as a robust edible or medicinal guide.
References:
Flowers and Fables: A Welsh Herbal by Jocelyn Lawton
Vickery’s Folk Flora by Roy Vickery
Welsh Names of Plants by Dafydd Davies and Arthur Jones
https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/34cb0407-3c6f-3531-a138-498593068c0a/Evil-eye-charm/
https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/1845#?xywh=8%2C-18%2C727%2C533
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180216-the-strange-power-of-the-evil-eye
https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/nighwo06.html
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/bittersweet
https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/60/11/2955/537778?login=false
https://www.gcc.mass.edu/oll/plants/climbing-nightshade/
https://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html