Spignel

Spignel has long grown wild in the high sheep pastures of Wales, Scotland, and the uplands of the Alps and Pyrenees, where its feathery, anise-scented leaves once told shepherds their flocks had reached good grazing ground. Country tradition held that the aromatic roots, when dug and dried, made a warming addition to broths and were chewed or brewed to settle a restless stomach after a heavy meal. In some upland communities, shepherds fed the roots to weak lambs in the belief it helped them thrive, which is likely how the plant earned its old name of bearwort, the root that even bears were said to seek out. Its gentle carminative reputation traveled alongside its use as a wild pot herb, a humble mountain plant valued as much for the kitchen as for the medicine chest.