Tha grunn lusan dùthchasach air an tomhas mar èifeachdach ann a bhith a’ casg sileadh fala à lotan / A number of our native plants have been traditionally used to help prevent blood flow from skin wounds

Lusan a tha a’ Casg na Fala

Bha na Gàidheil riamh measail air cuid de lusan agus fungasan mar leigheas airson sruthadh fala air taobh a-muigh na bodhaig. Nam measg tha am maraiche no scurvygrass, lus beag a tha a’ fàs os cionn tiùrr a’ chladaich, a’ chaochag (common puffball) ann an cruth pùdair agus sailm de fhreumhaichean na deanntaig. Tha an slàn-lus (ribwort plantain) agus cuach Phàdraig (greater plantain) càirdeach do chèile, agus bha iad air an aithneachadh gu traidiseanta mar lusan a ghabhadh cleachdadh (duilleagan agus sùgh) airson fuil a chasg. Agus bha co-dhiù aon chraobh am measg nan lusan casgaidh. Tha sailm-dharaich ann am Faclair Dwelly, a’ ciallachadh sailm (decoction) de rùsg an daraich a chuireas casg air sileadh fala.

©Lorne Gill/SNH

Ge-tà, ’s e Lus Chasgadh na Fala no Lus na Fala (mar a chanar ris anns an Eilean Sgitheanach) as cliùitiche am measg nan Gàidheal mar luibh dhùthchasach a chuireas stad air sruthadh fala. Faodar na duilleagan iteach dhen lus seo (ris an canar yarrow ann am Beurla) a bhith air am pasgadh timcheall lot no faodar an suathadh air an lot airson sùgh leigeil asta. No faodar na duilleagan a chagnadh sa bheul, agus uisge-beòil a leigeil air an lot. Airson stad a chur air leum-sròine, bhiodh na seann Ghàidheil a’ blàthachadh duilleagan an luis ann am bainne, agus an lionn a shuathachadh air taobh a-staigh nan cuinneanan le ite.

Bu chòir a bhith soilleir gu bheil Lus Chasgadh na Fala, agus na lusan eile a chaidh ainmeachadh shuas, air am moladh airson lotan air a’ chraiceann a-mhàin. Cha bu chòir an gabhail air an taobh a-staigh no san stamaig ach a-mhàin le comhairle bho chuideigin a tha fìor eòlach air leigheas.

©Lorne Gill

Blood-staunching Plants in Gaelic Scotland

There are traditions among Scotland’s Gaels of usage of a number of native plants and fungi in order to staunch blood-flow. Species include the seashore maraiche ‘scurvygrass’, powdered caochag ‘puffball fungus’ and a decoction of the roots of the deanntag ‘nettle’. The ribwort plantain is slàn-lus ‘healing plant’ in Gaelic and, like its relative the greater plantain, cuach Phàdraig ‘St Patrick’s quaich’, it was recognised as another species whose leaves and juice, applied to a wound, could stem a haemorrhage. And trees were not entirely ignored. Dwelly’s Gaelic dictionary defines sailm-dharaich as a decoration of oak bark, used to staunch blood.

©Lorne Gill/SNH

However, it is the delicate feathery-leaved yarrow that is most highly regarded as a cure for haemorrhage. Among the six recorded Gaelic names for the species, two refer specifically to that property – Lus Chasgadh na Fala ‘the plant that stops the blood’ and, on Skye, Lus na Fala ‘the blood plant’. The leaves can be wrapped around a cut or rubbed on the wound to release the juices. Alternatively, the leaves were chewed and the saliva dropped on the wound. To stop a bleeding nose, the plant would traditionally be warmed in milk, and the solution applied to the inside of the nostrils with a feather.

It should be noted that yarrow, and other plants mentioned above, are recommended only for external usage e.g. wounds to the skin. They should not be taken internally without expert advice.