Hedge Mustard

Hedge mustardis a different plant from the garden mustard. It has one blackish green stalk, slender, but tough, branched into several parts, and sometimes with several stalks, tall of branches, on which grow long, rugged leaves, much cut on the edges in many parts, some larger and some less; of a dirty green colour. The flowers are small and yellow, at the tops of the branches in long spikes, flowering by degrees. The seeds are yellow, of an acrid taste, and so is the herb. It grows by the way and hedge-sides, and in the open fields. It flowers in july.

It is good in all the diseases of thechest and lungs, hoarseness, for loss of voice, and lowness of spirits. The juice made into syrup, with honey or sugar, is no less effectual for the same purpose, and for all coughs, wheezing, and shortness of breath. It is a remedy for the jaundice, pleurisy, pains in the back and loins, and for colic, being also used in oysters. The seed is a special remedy for sciatica, joint-aches, ulcers and cankers in the mouth; throat, or behind the ears, and for hardness and swelling of the testicles, or women's breasts.