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Mercurialis perennis

Common name:	Dog's Mercury	Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	All parts of the plant are poisonous[4, 65, 76].
Range:	Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia south and east to Spain and S.W. Asia.
Habitat:	Woods and shady places, usually in beech and oak woods, avoiding acid soils[4, 9, 13, 17, 31].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bosbingelkruid [D], Dog's Mercury [H,L], Linozostis [E], Mercurial Perenne [E], Perennial Mercury [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	perennis = perennial;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Euphorbiales. Spurge family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Europe; Spain; Us

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.3m by 1m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 4 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from February to April, and the seeds ripen from May to June. The scented flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Wind and flies. The plant not is self-fertile. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) or semi-shade (light woodland). It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Deep Shade.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Emetic; Homeopathy; Ophthalmic; Purgative; Warts; Women's complaints.

Dog's mercury is poisonous in the fresh state, though thorough drying or heating is said to destroy the poisonous principle[4]. The fresh juice of the whole plant is emetic, ophthalmic and purgative. It is used externally to treat women's complaints, ear and eye problems, warts and sores[4, 9, 21].
A lotion made from the plant is used for antiseptic external dressings[4].
A homeopathic remedy is made from the plant[9]. It is used in the treatment of rheumatism, dropsy, diarrhoea and disorders of the gall bladder and liver[9].

Other Uses

Dye; Oil.

A fine blue dye is obtained from the leaves[1, 4, 115], it is turned red by acids and destroyed by alkalis but is otherwise permanent[115]. It resembles indigo[115].
A yellow dye is obtained from the leaves[61].
The seed is a potential source of a very good drying oil[61].

Cultivation details

Prefers a humus rich soil[13, 17].
Dog's mercury is a very invasive and common hedgerow plant, it should not be necessary to cultivate it. Male and female plants usually grow in separate clumps, the females being less common[4].
The leaves contain trimethylamine and, in the early stages of putrefaction or when bruised, they give off the smell of rotting fish[245].
Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - the plant shouldn't need any help in spreading itself, but if you are desperate to be completely overrun by it then you could spread the seed around when it is ripe in late spring and early summer.
Division - once again, there really is no need to help the plant but you can divide the roots at any time of the year.

Scent

Leaves: Crushed: The leaves contain trimethylamine and, in the early stages of putrefaction or when bruised they give off the smell of rotting fish[245].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Euphorbiaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[31] Brown. Shade Plants for Garden and Woodland.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[65] Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Wolfe 1984 ISBN 0723408394
Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.

[76] Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. HMSO 1984 ISBN 0112425291
Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.

[115] Johnson. C. P. The Useful Plants of Great Britain.
Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

Readers Comments

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Mercurialis+perennis
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Mercurialis+perennis

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.