English

Wikispecies

Noun

pellitory of the wall

1. A plant of the species Parietaria officinalis that has greenish flowers and often grows on walls.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.7:

     Leonardo Fioravanti, an Italian Physitian, beside many other secrets, assumeth unto himself the discovery of one concerning Pellitory of the Wall; that is, that it never groweth in the sight of the North star.

   • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society 2007, p. 216:

     The juice of Pellitory-of-the-Wall clarified and boiled into a syrup with honey, and a spoonful of it drunk every morning by such as are subject to the dropsy; if continuing that course though but once a week, if ever they have the dropsy, let them come but to me and I will cure them gratis.