Did you know:

• Ergot is a toxic fungus that grows mainly on rye plants.
• Claviceps purpurea can also infect barley, oats, and wheat.
• It reduces the crop yield and causes a disease called ergotism, commonly known as St. Anthony’s Fire because it affects the blood circulation and creates a terrible burning sensation.
• There are two forms of ergot poisoning: one type causes gangrene, and the other form manifests in hallucinations, convulsions, and seizures.
• Because it causes the symptoms of madness, ergot may have been responsible for the large-scale outbreaks of mass hysteria that swept across Medieval Europe in the Middle Ages.
• This fungus often triggered the symptoms of demonic possession that led to accusations of witchcraft.
• Ergot occurs in high humidity, especially at the edges of a crop field.
• It emerges in autumn, usually after an extremely cold winter and rainy summer.
• The fungus manifests on rye seeds as a dark violet or black stain.
• Severe epidemics seem to follow a 5 -10 year cycle.
• The fungus also creates contractions of the womb and was traditionally used to induce abortions, or to help stop post-natal maternal bleeding.
• Ergot is the natural form of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide).

Sources:

“Ergot of Rye” at http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM

Stuart, Malcolm. The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism (London: Black Cat, 1987)

Wikipedia, “Ergot” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot

(Photo: Public Domain)

Copyright © 2022 | KitPerriman.com | All Rights Reserved