the blood of Mars

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the blood of Mars,

Original French:  le ſang de Mars,

Modern French:  le sang de Mars,


Among the plants that are named for a higher resemblance.


Notes

Asarum

Asarum

Schöffer, Peter (ca. 1425–ca. 1502.), [R]ogatu plurimo[rum] inopu[m] num[m]o[rum] egentiu[m] appotecas refuta[n]tiu[m] occasione illa, q[uia] necessaria ibide[m] ad corp[us] egru[m] specta[n]tia su[n]t cara simplicia et composita. Mainz: 1484. plate 15. Botanicus

Asarum

Asarum

Ortus sanitatis. Mainz, Germany: Jacob Meydenbach, 1491. 23r. University of Cambridge Digital Library

Asarum

Asarum
Partial text in Medieval Latin. Please post a translation in the comments.

Ortus sanitatis. Mainz, Germany: Jacob Meydenbach, 1491. 23r. University of Cambridge Digital Library

Asarum

Asarum europaeum
Asarum europaeum L. [as Asarum]

Bessler, Basilius (1561–1629), Hortus Eystettensis, vol. 1. Sextus ordo collectarum plantarum vernalium. 1613. t. 105, fig. II. Plantillustrations.org

Asarum europaeum

Asarum europaeum
Gewöhnliche Haselwurz (Asarum europaeum)

Wikipedia. Wikipedia

Mars’ Blood

It has been suggested that this may be one of the dark varieties of Wallflower (Cheiranthus cheiri), probably that known as ‘bloody warrior’; or again, the sanguinaria, wild millet.

Rabelais, François (ca. 1483–1553), The Five Books and Minor Writings. Volume 1: Books I-III. William Francis Smith (1842–1919), translator. London: Alexader P. Watt, 1893. Internet Archive

Sang de Mars

Sang de Mars, sang d’Arés, par allusion à la couleur pourpre des fleurs: c’est le nom magique d’une Aristolochiée, l’Asarum europæum, L. ou cabaret (cf. Béjottes, loc. cit,, p 157, 158), qui est aussi l’Asarum de Pline (XXI, 78). M. Sainéan dit (H.N.R., 124), qu’il s’agirait de la Sanguinaire; vise-t-il notre Geranium sanguineum L., qui porte ce nom, ou la Sanguinaria de Pline qui serait, d’après Fée, le Polygonum aviculare, L. ? (Paul Delaunay)

Rabelais, François (ca. 1483–1553), Oeuvres. Édition critique. Tome Cinquieme: Tiers Livre. Abel Lefranc (1863-1952), editor. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1931. p. 356. Internet Archive

sang de mars

Asarum iocinerum vitiis salutare esse traditur uncia sumpta in hemina mulsi mixti. alvum purgat ellebori modo, hydropicis prodest et praecordiis vulvisque ac morbo regio. in mustum si addatur, facit vinum urinis ciendis. effoditur cum folia emittit, siccatur et conditur. in umbra situm celerrime sentit.

Hazelwort [Dioscorides I. 9 (10 RV Wellmann) says of ἄσαρον, Ῥωμαῖοι περπρέσσαμ, οἱ δὲ βάκχαρ . . . Γάλλοι βάκαρ. Cf. Vol. vii, Index of Plants, s.v. Asarum, baccar, nardus] is said to be beneficial for liver complaints, an ounce being taken in a hemina of diluted honey wine. It purges the bowels after the manner of hellebore, and is good for dropsy, the hypochondria, the uterus and for jaundice. When added to must it makes a diuretic wine. It is dug up when the leaves are forming;d it is dried and then stored up. In the shade it very quickly goes mouldy.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 6: Books 20–23. William Henry Samuel Jones (1876–1963), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951. 21.78. Loeb Classical Library

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Posted 10 February 2013. Modified 6 December 2017.

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