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  • Charles-Ferdinand d'Artois, Duc de Berry. Lithograph by Nicolas-Eustache Maurin.
  • Black bryony or murraim berry plant (Tamus communis): fruiting stem. Watercolour, 1904.
  • Berry Dental Engine. Fig. 101, page 238, 'Dental Electricity' by Levitt E Custer, 1901.
  • Dr. P.O. Baldo's celebrated Blood and Liver Pills : the best anti-bilious pills in the world / L.M. Berry.
  • Dr. P.O. Baldo's celebrated Blood and Liver Pills : the best anti-bilious pills in the world / L.M. Berry.
  • Caroline-Ferdinande Louise de Bourbon, Duchesse de Berry. Lithograph by Zéphirin-Félix-Jean-Marius Belliard, 1829.
  • Butcher's broom (Rucus aculeatus L.): entire flowering plant with separate berry and immature fruit. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi L.): entire flowering and fruiting plant with separate opened calyx and berry. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1774.
  • A cerebral atlas : illustrating the difference between the brains of mentally defective and normal individuals, with a social, mental and neurological record of 120 defectives during life / by Richard J.A. Berry.
  • A cerebral atlas : illustrating the difference between the brains of mentally defective and normal individuals, with a social, mental and neurological record of 120 defectives during life / by Richard J.A. Berry.
  • Berrydales no-cream ices : the healthier option : honey vanilla, maple & walnut, berry, ginger & honey, bitter chocolate : dairy free, low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie.
  • Berrydales no-cream ices : the healthier option : honey vanilla, maple & walnut, berry, ginger & honey, bitter chocolate : dairy free, low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie.
  • Above, three insects, a shrike, a mineral, a gull, a sprig of a camphor tree and a sprig and berry of a lantana shrub; below, two hares, a duck bernade, two dragon flies and a lemur. Engraving by Heath.
  • Myrtus communis L. Myrtaceae Myrtle Distribution: Europe. Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) recommends the fruit for treating haemoptysis (‘spitting blood’) and cystitis, and, if boiled, he said it made a fine wine. In various forms it was used as a hair dye, for sore eyes, anal and uterine prolapse, dandruff and shingles, all sorts of inflammations, scorpion bites and even sweaty armpits. Our plant has white berries, but he regarded those with black berries (they become black later in the season) as being more effective. Lyte (1576) adds that the juice of the berries kept the hair black and stopped it falling out, and prevented intoxication. He notes that it only flowered in hot summers in England, but it is reliable in flower now, either due to global warming or selection of suitable clones. According to Lyte, it is named after Merlyne, a fair maiden of Athens in ancient Greece, who judged the athletic games. Slain by a disgruntled competitor, the goddess Minerva brought her back as the myrtle tree in perpetual memory. The myrtle tree is also an ancient Jewish symbol for peace and justice. Myrtle wine is still made in Tuscany and now even in China. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Paris quadrifolia L. Trilliaceae Herb Paris Distribution: Europe and temperate Asia. This dramatic plant was known as Herb Paris or one-berry. Because of the shape of the four leaves, resembling a Burgundian cross or a true love-knot, it was also known as Herb True Love. Prosaically, the name ‘Paris’ stems from the Latin ‘pars’ meaning ‘parts’ referring to the four equal leaves, and not to the French capital or the lover of Helen of Troy. Sixteenth century herbalists such as Fuchs, who calls it Aconitum pardalianches which means leopard’s bane, and Lobel who calls it Solanum tetraphyllum, attributed the poisonous properties of Aconitum to it. The latter, called monkshood and wolfsbane, are well known as poisonous garden plants. Gerard (1633), however, reports that Lobel fed it to animals and it did them no harm, and caused the recovery of a dog poisoned deliberately with arsenic and mercury, while another dog, which did not receive Herb Paris, died. It was recommended thereafter as an antidote to poisons. Coles (1657) wrote 'Herb Paris is exceedingly cold, wherupon it is proved to represse the rage and force of any Poyson, Humour , or Inflammation.' Because of its 'cold' property it was good for swellings of 'the Privy parts' (where presumably hot passions were thought to lie), to heal ulcers, cure poisoning, plague, procure sleep (the berries) and cure colic. Through the concept of the Doctrine of Signatures, the black berry represented an eye, so oil distilled from it was known as Anima oculorum, the soul of the eye, and 'effectual for all the disease of the eye'. Linnaeus (1782) listed it as treating 'Convulsions, Mania, Bubones, Pleurisy, Opththalmia', but modern authors report the berry to be toxic. That one poison acted as an antidote to another was a common, if incorrect, belief in the days of herbal medicine. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Osmanthus delavayi Franch. Oleaceae Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China. Osmanthus is derived from the Greek for 'fragrant flower', delavayi from its discoverer, the French Missionary with the Missions Étrangères, and plant collector, Pierre Delavay (1834-1895). He sent 200,000 herbarium specimens containing 4000 species including 1,500 new species to Franchet at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He sent seed of O. delavayi to France (1886), but only one germinated, and all the plants in cultivation until it was recollected 40 years later, arose from this plant (Bretschneider, 1896). The flowers are used to make a tea in China, but the berries (drupes) are not regarded as edible. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Two fruiting plants with conspicuous red and purple fruits and an outline of a third plant. Watercolour.
  • The blossom and fruit of a coffee tree (Coffea arabica) Photograph.
  • Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum): leaves and fruits. Pen drawing, partially coloured.
  • Three plants, including two fruiting branches of a holly (Ilex species) and an Andromeda species. Watercolour.
  • Autumn leaves and fruits of bramble (Rubus species). Watercolour drawings.
  • Black bryony (Tamus communis): fruiting stem. Partially coloured pen drawing.
  • Two plants, possibly a fruiting branch of hawthorn (Crataegus) and a stem of dodder (Cuscuta). Watercolour.
  • A plant (Cucubalus baccifer): flowering stem, fruit and floral segments. Coloured engraving after J. Sowerby, 1806.
  • The blossom and fruit of a coffee tree (Coffea arabica) Photograph.
  • Four flowering plants, including asarabacca (Asarum europaeum) and two mercury plants (Mercurialis species). Chromolithograph by W. Dickes & co., c. 1855.
  • Common elder (Sambucus nigra): flowering and fruiting stems. Coloured lithograph by W. G. Smith, c. 1863, after himself.
  • Four flowering and fruiting plants: black bryony, herb Paris, common asparagus and butchers broom. Chromolithograph by W. Dickes & co., c. 1855.
  • A merry Xmas : OXO : drink Oxo in the new year.
  • A merry Xmas : OXO : drink Oxo in the new year.