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If you want to kill your mother, bring some cow parsley into the house.
Prevent contraception by putting saffron in your boots. Intrigued? Get yourself
a copy of one of the most fascinating books ever published: Roy Vickery’s
Dictionary of Plant Lore (Oxford University Press, £8.99, ISBN 0 19 280053
1). A marvellous collection of superstitions, folk tales, customs and recipes
connected with British and Irish plants, it is irresistible. Now, to make a
violin out of a plantain . . .