ANGELICA
angelica archangelica
angelica atropurpurea
angelica heterocarpa
angelica sylvestris
Umbelliferae
Parsley or Carrot Family

CAUTIONS

CULINARY
The main use is for a condiment or confection.
Hollow stems may be candied.

Roots and leaves are collected in late summer of second year of growth.

HISTORY
Very tall biennial with large clusters of small greenish flowers.

Two varieties of angelica archangelica 1st sub-spp eu-archangelica
occurs in mountain country of Northern Lands, Iceland,
Greenland and Scandinavia

2nd sub-spp littoralis beach plant of Greenland, Scadinavia
the Russian Balc seacoast and Siberia.

Its virtues are praised by old writers, and the name itself, as well as the folk-lore of all
North European countries and nations, testify to the great antiquity of a belief
in its merits as a protection against contagion, for purifying the blood, and for curing
every conceivable malady: it was held a sovereign remedy for poisons
agues and all infectious maladies.

In Couriand, Livonia and the low lakelands of Pomerania and East Prussia,
wild-growing Angelica abounds; there, in early summer-time, it has been the custom
among the peasants to march into the towns carrying
the Angelica flower-stems and to offer them for sale, chanting some ancient ditty
in Lettish words, so antiquated as to be unintelligible even to the singers themselves.
The chanted words and the tune are learned in childhood, and may be attributed
to a survival of some Pagan festival with which the plant was originally associated.

After the introduction of Christianity, the plant became linked in the popular mind
with some archangelic patronage, and associated with the spring-time
festival of the Annunciation.

According to one legend, Angelica was revealed in a dream by an angel to cure the plague.

Another explanation of the name of this plant is that it blooms on the day
of Michael the Archangel (May 8, old style), and is on that account a preservative
against evil spirits and witchcraft:
all parts of the plant were believed efficacious against spells and enchantment.

It was held in such esteem that it was called 'The Root of the Holy Ghost.'

Angelica may be termed a perennial herbaceous plant.
It is biennial only in the botanical sense of that term, that is to say, it is neither annual,
nor naturally perennial: the seedlings make but little advance towards maturity
within twelve months, whilst old plants die off after seeding once, which event may
be at a much more remote period than in the second year of growth.

Only very advanced seedlings flower in their second year, and the third year of growth
commonly completes the full period of life.

There is another species, angelica heterocarpa, a native of Spain, which is credited
as truly perennial; it flowers a few weeks later
than the biennial species, and is not so ornamental in its foliage.


ACTIONS
CAUTION
CULINARY
FOLK MEDICINE
HABITAT
HISTORY
MAGIC